“Tuner” Review

Daniel Roher has thus far had a critically successful career as a documentarian, casting a sympathetic gaze on impactful figures as diverse as Robbie Robertson and Alexei Navalny. With “Tuner”, his first foray into narrative filmmaking, Roher uses his perceptive eye to prove that a formulaic story can be elevated when the formula is executed to perfection with a humane attention to character.

Niki White (Leo Woodall) and Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) are piano tuners spending their days traveling to expensive homes to apply their specialized craft at keeping neglected status symbols up to date on their yearly maintenance. Once a piano prodigy himself, Niki now suffers from a hearing condition called hyperacusis – he is essentially allergic to loud noises. With Harry as his father figure, he has found a way to remain connected to the world of music as best he can.

One day, Harry leaves his own hearing aids in his personal safe and forgets the combination. Determined to help out his friend, Niki takes the safe home and finds out that his pitch perfect hearing works just as well for safecracking as it did for the piano. When Harry ends up in the hospital after a heart attack, faced with overwhelming medical debt, Niki decides to apply his newfound skill to safecracking work for a team of security experts with a side hustle in stealing from their clients.

With its music-based heist story and hearing-impaired protagonist, “Tuner” could easily be compared with Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver”. But where that movie is self-consciously stylized and comical, this one is mature and compassionate. There are no criminal masterminds or cartoon villains here, only a humble collection of blue collar strivers all trying to make the best of their circumstances.

Leo Woodall leads the cast with a subdued, sensitive performance but he is gamely met by a moving Dustin Hoffman as his mentor. Even before Niki’s tragic backstory is revealed, we are aligned with our heroes through a simple montage of them going about their mundane work days. By watching them so obviously care for one another, we can’t help ourselves but care for them.

Roles that would be more one-note in a worse movie, such as the love interest or the criminal accomplices, are instead shaded in with their own wants, their own relationships outside of this one story. Each character is complex, rough around the edges in ways that add texture to the otherwise routine plot.

While more surprises would have been welcome throughout the story, “Tuner” is a finely tuned heist thriller, delivering all of the requisite story beats without ever losing sight of the humanity pulsing at its core, all the way through to its pitch perfect ending that lands as both triumphant and melancholy.

Tuner
Rated R for language throughout, some violence, drug use and brief nudity.
Running Time: 1 hour and 49 minutes.

Director Daniel Roher
Writers Daniel Roher, Robert Ramsey
Stars Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh, Jean Reno, Dustin Hoffman
Rating R
Running Time 109 Minutes
Genres Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller