Filmmaker Daniel Roher, a director known for the documentaries Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band and The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist, makes his feature film debut with Tuner, a taut, neo-noir drama with a lot of heart at its core. Roher, who co-wrote the screenplay with Robert Ramsey, doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but nevertheless shows undeniable proficiency as a storyteller with his first major narrative feature.
Leo Woodall stars as Niki White, a piano-tuning apprentice with perfect pitch who could have become a piano virtuoso had he not developed a condition called Hyperacusis, a sensitivity to sound and loud noises. With his music career derailed, Niki works for a family friend, Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), an elderly gentleman who owns and runs a piano-tuning business. Though Niki now does most of the work, Harry usually accompanies him on his tuning assignments in the city. However, this practice comes to an abrupt end when Harry’s health declines, and he suffers a bad heart attack. With hospital bills piling up, both Harry and his wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh), stress over what will happen next.
Because Harry and Marla have taken great care of Niki, like a son they’ve never had, Niki feels obligated to help them financially. He gets what seems like a golden opportunity to do so when he applies his tuning skills to safecracking. Working with a group of thieves (Lior Raz, Nissan Sakira, Gil Cohen), Niki begins to earn the money he needs to support his surrogate family while becoming romantically involved with student pianist Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). However, like most criminal activity, working for Uri as a safecracker proves to be too good to be true.
Though the story and plot are nothing most people haven’t experienced in other similar stories, the writing, directing, and acting work so well in developing the Niki character and showing how his trauma, existential melancholy, desperation, and greed take him through this harrowing journey. Niki is a good-hearted young man who could have had a successful and rewarding career as a musician, but feels like the world unfairly burdened him with a medical condition that stymied his original path. In addition, he feels the need to help his surrogate parents, but simply doesn’t have the means to do so.
Actor Leo Woodall does a fantastic job of bringing his protagonist to life, from script to screen. He is so good at making an empathetic case for Niki, and we, the audience, instantly connect with him. Havana Rose Liu gives a solid supporting turn as Ruthie, Niki’s love interest; however, I feel that her performance wasn’t dynamic enough. Dustin Hoffman is perfectly cast as Harry Horowitz, a lovable rascally rabbit of a curmudgeon who truly loves Niki.
Daniel Roher, editor, Greg O’Bryant, and the sound department do phenomenal work to create the atmosphere of Niki’s life and experiences while living with Hyperacusis. Their superb work definitely adds to the immersive experience of watching this film, while the story and character development effectively build suspense and tension, making Niki White a character after our own hearts. Though the story is nothing new, Tuner works so well as a compelling movie; I must highly recommend it.