‘Tuner’ movie review: Leo Woodall strikes a fine note in this offbeat romantic crime caper

Leo Woodall draws one into his life as Niki White, an apprentice piano tuner to Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), a legend in the New York City music circles.

As the two go about in their van, with its bobble head of Harry nodding benignly and little dinosaurs roaring merrily on the dashboard, Harry dispenses wisdom on a vast range of topics from cholesterol to the merits of fresh tuna sandwiches.

We learn that Niki was a child prodigy, but his piano playing came to a grinding halt when he was felled by hyperacusis. Niki’s father was Harry’s good friend, and Harry and his wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh) take Niki under their wing after he passed away.

While Harry is talented and has made a name for himself, he is not a very good businessman, not having increased his rates for the past 30 years, as Marla says despairingly. We see the two going about their business, visiting grand houses where pianos are props, or need urgent tuning as “Billy Joel is coming to play”, and music conservatories where a well-tuned piano is crucial to the students’ success.

It is at such a conservatory that Niki meets Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), whose ambition is to shine at a concert and grab the attention of master composer Marius Maissner (Jean Reno), who offers one assistantship a year.  

A series of events, including Niki accidentally learning he has a special skill set to crack safes, Harry suffering a heart attack and being unable to pay medical bills as he has let his insurance lapse (“on principle”, Marla explains tearfully), and a canny trio of thieves, Uri (Lior Raz), Yoni (Gil Cohen), and Benny (Nissan Sakira), set Niki on a path of crime.

Tuner is beautifully written with well-realised characters. There is the well-read Yoni, providing Uri with all the right words, and sweet Benny, who loves dogs and dreams of opening a sanctuary where they will not be put down even if they are never adopted.

A still from ‘Tuner’
| Photo Credit:
Black Bear Pictures

The cast complement the elegant writing, from Hoffman’s impishness to Uri’s rough-and-ready code. Woodall has turned in a virtuoso performance as a musician whose music has been taken away from him and a man who loves deeply and well.  

Tuner is a genre-defying debut fiction feature from Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher (Navalny), who shares writing credit with Robert Ramsey. Is it a crime caper, a romance or a story about art and identity? What does an artist do if the only way they know to express themselves is taken away from them? It is all that and more, as Niki and Ruthie’s argument, which is as much a lover’s quarrel as one about ambition and identity, shows.

The music is a mix of lush pieces, jazz, moody blues, electronica, Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman” and an incendiary piano piece at the end. The sound design, while not intrusive, fades in and out drawing us into Niki’s world.

With an excellent balance of interiority and outwardness, where we are invested in the characters’ lives and the action, Tuner keeps us fiercely tuned in.

Tuner is currently running in theatres