Documentary filmmaker Daniel Roher makes his feature film debut with Tuner, a pitch-perfect heist thriller that quite literally hits all the right notes. Leo Woodall stars as Niki, a former piano prodigy who now spends his time tuning pianos as the apprentice of Dustin Hoffman’s Harry Horowitz.
They spend their days working on instruments that are used, at best, once a year, but Niki has a unique gift in that he can identify any note just by hearing it. This is implied to be a result of his hearing disability — to him, sound is pain, and he must wear ear plugs every day and noise-cancelling headphones in particularly loud environments.
In a genius twist (in a script full of clever turns), this also makes Niki the perfect safe cracker, and he is eventually drawn into a shady world of thieves who use their cover as security guards to rob rich clients.
Tuner Is Firing On All Cylinders
Roher co-wrote the sharp script with Robert Ramsay and built into this story is a brilliantly constructed and lush sonic world with a jazzy score courtesy of Will Bates. Tuner makes you feel Niki’s pain, the world around him a minefield of potential hurt punctuated by brilliant sound design. The story uses sound to clever ends — there’s one scene with an airhorn that feels particularly cruel.
But underneath all this is a slyly emotional story that sneaks up on you. The father-son dynamic between Niki and Harry is supported by the wonderful chemistry of Woodall and Hoffman. Harry’s wife Marla (an always warm Tovah Feldshuh) is also a key figure in the film, but the centerpiece relationship is that between Niki and Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu in her best role to date), a young piano student who is on her way to achieving everything Niki couldn’t.
When he developed his aversion to sound at a young age, Niki was forced to give up playing the piano, though it’s something he’s been working towards again every day, fighting emotional and physical blocks to do what he loves once again. Tuner’s layered script packs all of this and more into its snappy runtime.
Woodall anchors Tuner with a cleverly muted performance that slowly blossoms into something more emotionally open, especially as his connection with Ruthie grows. In The White Lotus, the British actor was Sєxy and slippery, but Tuner sees him tapping into a softer side, sharp-tongued, but never bitter, coy smiles that are warm rather than overtly seductive.
Even in its harrowing moments (of which there are a few), Tuner never sensationalizes its heist plot, opting for a realistic approach to a story that is already so grounded in the everyday lives of these people. We see Niki tune more pianos than we do unlock safes, and though he seems to be going through the motions, there’s a humanity to the way Tuner treats Niki’s life, which on the surface appears rote, but is rather complex as the story expands.
As Tuner races towards its brilliant crescendo, all facets of its story collide in surprising ways, Niki’s relationships with everyone around him being pulled deep into the web of dishonesty he inadvertently weaves. Despite his good intentions, Niki runs the risk of ruining everything and everyone around him and though the stakes are admittedly small, they don’t really feel that way.
Roher’s direction gives the film an intimate perspective, but the aforementioned sonic world the film builds expands the scope in sly ways. We go in and out of Niki’s point of view on how he hears the world around him, certain scenes muffled and others ringing with the sonic power of a searing migraine. The lens blurs as Niki’s world does, and we are in it with him every step of the way.
In the film’s final moments, there is a wonderful sonic catharsis, and you’ll be hard-pressed not to leave the theater with a grin on your face. Tuner is a small film, but one that will leave a big impact. It truly is one of the most delightful surprises of the fall and deserves to be seen on a big screen with the loudest sound possible. Here’s hoping it gets that chance.
Tuner screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
