Tuner
I used to think I was a misanthrope (and that diagnosis is still not fully off the table) but upon further self-reflection, I’ve realised that I might just be sensitive to sound. Or more specifically, human sound invading my personal space. I often find myself experiencing sensory overload on the train at peak hour, in open plan offices or even at the gym when the awful music on the speakers is competing with the awful music coming out of my noise-cancelling headphones. It makes me want to scream.
So when I sat down for Tuner – a film about a piano tuner with hyperacusis (abnormal sensitivity to sound) – only to have two crypto bro meatheads behind me loudly providing their own audio commentary track, the irony was pretty painful. Thankfully, the movie itself was very enjoyable and distracting.
Tuner stars Leo Woodall as Niki, a New York City apprentice of piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman). The pair spend their days tuning the purely decorative pianos of the affluent and untalented but occasionally, they’re hired by more esteemed clients – like music conservatories – to tune pianos that actually get used.
It’s on such a job that Niki meets Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a student pianist preparing for an upcoming performance. We learn as Ruthie does (through a cute pitch testing scene) that Niki was something of a child prodigy in his youth but that his hyperacusis squashed his chances of a musical career.
What it did give him, though, is a unique gift that comes in handy when Harry forgets the combination to his safe. After some YouTube tutorials, Niki learns to use his heightened hearing to perform lock manipulation and crack the safe. Hurray! Harry’s belongings are accessible again.
Unfortunately, Niki will soon find himself putting his newfound skills to more nefarious use when his late night piano tuning at a mansion (ahead of a private Billy Joel performance, no less) is interrupted by a trio of Israeli ‘security’ workers who are causing a ruckus upstairs trying to brute force their way into a safe.
Headed by Uri (Lior Raz, who was once a bodyguard for Arnold Schwarzenegger), Yoni (Gil Cohen) and the soft, dog-loving Benny (Nissan Sakira), Niki’s new workmates seem okay at first. They’re a bit like the goons in Anora – a bit dodge, a bit dumb but seemingly harmless. Uri makes the point that they only rob the 1% and they’re careful to only take what won’t be missed, which for much of the clientele means secondary jewellery items and the like. Fine.
But as Niki gets in deeper with his new biz, storylines converge and things crescendo. We’ve seen this outline before countless times but there’s something quite charming about Tuner in its blend of virtuosity and heist antics that feels fresh. The Guardian’s Cath Clarke called it “the Safdie brothers in chill out mode” and there’s definitely a bit of Good Time in there. I’d say it’s that plus Michael Mann’s Thief by way of Sound of Metal, albeit much lighter in tone than any of those films.
It is directed and co-written by Canadian documentarian Daniel Roher, whose film subject matter has spanned the band The Band, Russian opposition leader and anti-corruptionist Alexei Navalny, incurable eye conditions and a man who swallowed a mummified toe and was henceforth named the Sorry Cannibal. Clearly, he’s a person with broad interests and lots of curiosity, a trait that translates well to what I think is an indie crowdpleaser.
Tuner is Roher’s first narrative film and it’s hugely enjoyable. While we generally know where it’s going (no thanks due to the trailer, which showed much too much), there are still plenty of surprises throughout the film’s respectable 107-minute runtime. It’s funny, it’s got a neat little premise (even if it goes to some slightly heightened places in its second half), a pitch perfect ending and its central performances are believable and sweet.
I’ve liked Havana Rose Liu in everything I’ve seen her in (so, Bottoms and Lurker) and she’s excellent here as Ruthie, particularly in her recital sequence. I’m a big fan of what I’ve learned is called ‘orchestral swell’ and Tuner treats Ruthie’s recital with precisely the reverence and awe that I find most moving.
Having only seen Leo Woodall in The White Lotus Season 2 and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, I was pleased to see him given a bit more to do here. He strikes a good balance as a man who is both resentful of his plight and trying to support his new partner in career aspirations that used to be his. An argument between Niki and Ruthie is the best example of this; it’s one of those fights where both people are right but it doesn’t make any of the things one says to the other any easier to hear.
And speaking of hearing, while I wholeheartedly recommend Tuner to anyone and believe that the cinema is the best place to watch movies, if you’re a crypto bro who feels the need to voice such profound commentaries as “awww dude he’s gonna start cracking safes to pay for the medical bill” to your fellow audience members, maybe you should stay home.
