'Tuner' Review: Entertaining Crime Thriller About a Safe-cracking Piano Tuner Plays All the Right Keys
Most recently, I was really let down by Darren Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing, a crime thriller set in New York City starring Austin Butler as an ordinary guy forced into the world of crime. In it, he must contend with his traumatic past as a former child prodigy whose life took a dark turn.
Coincidentally, at TIFF, documentary filmmaker-turned-narrative director Daniel Roher followed a similar blueprint but improved it. Think Caught Stealing, but more like Michael Mann’s Thief. That’s Tuner.
Image copyright (©) Courtesy of TIFF
MPA Rating: NR
Runtime: 1 Hour and 49 Minutes
Language: English
Production Companies: Black Bear, Elevation Pictures
Distributor: Black Bear Pictures
Director: Daniel Roher
Writers: Robert Ramsey, Daniel Roher
Cast: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz
U.S Release Date: TBD
Niki White (Leo Woodall) is a former child piano prodigy who had to hang up his keys when he developed a sensitive hearing condition. Now the right-hand man to his uncle-like figure Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), Niki works for his piano-tuning business. This cynical twenty-something spends his days tuning pianos for the rich. He knows the ins and outs of every key and uses his trusty hearing aid to help him fine-tune each piano. His ear is something of a superpower.
During one of his jobs, he meets Uri (Lior Raz), a Jewish man in charge of a security team… and also a thief. After Niki helps him crack a safe using his hearing abilities, Uri recruits him. In the meantime, he meets and starts a romance with Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a young piano prodigy about to have her first big concert.
When Harry suffers a stroke and is admitted to the hospital, Niki is left to manage everything on his own. He takes Uri’s offer, intending to pay off Harry’s hospital bills, much to his wife’s suspicions. But alas, now that he’s in the crime world, it’s hard to get out.
Leo Woodall fine-tunes Tuner’s tone
Leo Woodall is the latest addition to my collection of “never seen you in the shows people love you for—who dis?” after Paul Mescal. Although Niki is not particularly captivating, Woodall confidently demonstrates his ability to anchor a feature film with a sprinkling of star power. He pulls off a fine American accent, but the real appeal lies in his ability to modulate the film’s tone—playing Niki as a streetwise rebel with a heart of gold. That heart shines most in his bond with Harry. He may be apathetic toward his job, but he clearly loves his boss like family. Woodall and Hoffman’s camaraderie is buoyant and enjoyable in the few scenes they share, and the film would have benefited from more.
The same goes for his relationship with the film’s other surface-level characters, though they are well played by the supporting cast, especially the very charismatic and funny Lior Raz as crime boss Uri and Havana Rose Liu as Ruthie. They embody the standard archetypes you expect in a crime thriller. There’s a hint of depth between Niki and Ruthie. Roher and co-writer Robert Ramsey’s screenplay explores Niki’s reluctance to confront his feelings about his hearing impairment and lost musical talent, contrasted with Ruthie’s burgeoning career. It’s compelling to see how their relationship is tested not by personal flaws, but by differing ideas on how to achieve their goals. Unfortunately, this subplot never reaches its full potential, as it’s boxed in by the crime thriller formula.
Even Niki, as a protagonist, is as conventional as they come. He’s a mix of Baby from Baby Driver (has a special interest that functions like a superpower) and Hank Thompson from Caught Stealing (a former child prodigy haunted by a tragic past), but unlike those two, he’s thoroughly proactive in his decision-making. Still, it’s not enough to make him interesting; his arrogance and conceit often become grating.
Daniel Roher channels his inner Edgar Wright
Stylistically, Roher’s direction also channels Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver and Caught Stealing. Particularly the former, in terms of kinetic editing: Greg O’Bryant and the sound team personalize Niki’s hearing and musical instincts, turning them into tools for criminal activity.
If you’ve seen any crime thriller, Tuner isn’t reinventing the wheel. The moment Niki meets Uri and Ruthie, you can guess exactly where the story is headed. Still, thanks to sharp editing and thematic pacing, the film holds together with entertaining precision. It keeps you entranced.
What Tuner lacks in originality and what it succumbs to in formula, it makes up for in execution. If you can polish a conventional movie and spin it in a way that heightens my attention span, I’m all in. This film does exactly that. It’s genuinely Thief in the vein of Whiplash, with a lively, jazzy score, a great “Sinnerman” needle drop, and snappy editing.
Final Statement
Tuner is a completely tropey, if not forgettable, crime thriller that’s as conventional as they come, but thoroughly entertaining nonetheless.
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