TUNER Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Daniel Roher
Stars: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Tovah Feldhuh, Lior Raz, Jean Reno, Nissan Sakira, Gil Cohen.
The debut narrative feature for documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher (the Oscar winning Navalny, etc) Tuner is a slick, entertaining character study and caper drama driven by an offbeat premise and an unusual protagonist.
Niki White (played by Leo Woodall, from Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy and Nuremberg, etc) is a former child musical prodigy who lost most of his hearing at the age of seven. Now he suffers from hyperacusis, a rare affliction that means he cannot handle loud noises. He has to wear inner ear buds and also industrial grade noise cancelling headphones just to cope with everyday life in New York City. Niki no longer plays the piano, but he still has perfect pitch, which makes him perfect suited to work as an apprentice piano tuner under the guidance of his mentor and father figure Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman).
Harry is deaf and in the early stages of dementia. When he accidentally locks his hearing aids in his safe and forgets the combination Niki helps out. He takes the safe home and, after studying some You Tube videos, is able to use his heightened hearing to open it. This eventually leads him into a dangerous situation.
Later, while tuning a piano for stressed out music conservatory student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu, recently seen in Power Ballad), Niki strikes up a friendship which eventually turns into romance as the pair bond over a mutual love of music.
While tuning another piano in preparation for a lavish party at a mansion Niki finds himself unable to work because of the noise created by the security team. It is suggested that he return later when the place will be quiet. But then he stumbles across Uri (Israeli actor Lior Raz) and his gang attempting to drill into a safe upstairs. In order to stop them making a noise, Niki opens the safe for them.
Recognising Niki’s unusual talent, Uri tries to offer him a job with his gang. Uri runs a home security outfit but uses his knowledge of his clients to rob them, knowing that they will most likely blame the servants for any missing objects. Niki turns down the offer.
Harry suffers a heart attack and ends up in hospital. His loving but long suffering and patient wife Marla (Tovah Feldshuh) cannot afford the expensive insurance cover, so Niki reluctantly approaches Uri to earn some extra money to pay for Harry’s hospital care. This leads him into danger when complications set in.
This may be Roher’s first narrative feature, but he elicits solid performances from his cast. The charismatic Woodall plays a sympathetic character, and he has a brooding quality as Niki, who prefers to lead a solitary life and not engage with the world at large. But he also injects touches of vulnerability into his performance. Hoffman plays the impish Harry with a twinkle in his eye. Woodall and Hoffman share a great dynamic, and a genuine warmth shapes their relationship. A nice little touch sees a Hoffman bobblehead figure adorn the dashboard of Harry’s van, and it serves to remind us of his presence even when he is not around.
Raz brings an intimidating quality to his role as Uri. Liu is solid as Ruthie, while Feldshuh suffuses Marla with a warmth and down-to-earth quality. French star Jean Reno is not given a lot to do as the renowned musician maestro Marius Meissner who is looking to hire Ruthie as his assistant to work on creating a major work. But his character plays an important role in the drama as he exposes Niki’s illegal activities.
Co-writer Robert Ramsey (Intolerable Cruelty, etc) injects doses of humour into the screenplay, while deftly avoiding many of the usual tropes of the crime genre. Lowell A Mayer’s cinematography captures the New York streetscapes and imbues the nocturnal scenes with a sense of menace. Will Bates’ jazz influenced score provides the material with a sense of energy. Impressive sound design from Johnnie Burn helps audience understand and appreciate Niki’s sense of disorientation.
★★★☆
