Tuner (2025)
Good genre movies are rooted in strong characters, and that's something director/co-writer Daniel Roher clearly took to heart with his new crime film Tuner.
Leo Woodall plays Niki, a piano tuner who suffers from a rare hearing disorder that makes loud noises unbearably painful. He works under the loving tutelage of his mentor/father figure Harry (Dustin Hoffman). When Harry becomes seriously ill and his wife is left with tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills, Niki finds that his listening abilities are well suited to safe cracking.
A group of thieves who have a front business as security experts soon put Niki to use. The leader, Uri (Lior Raz), is initially kind to Niki, but once Niki gets enough money and wants to focus his attentions on his pianist girlfriend (Havana Rose Liu), Uri is reluctant to let his star safecracker walk.
Aside from being a well-plotted crime film, Tuner is a strong character study about a young man with thwarted ambitions and afflicted with a cruel medical condition. It also provides an interesting glimpse into the world of both classical music and, yes, piano tuning.
Like
a lot of genre films aimed at adults, Tuner has not received much of a
marketing campaign. However, it is the type of film moviegoers should remind
studios they should still make.
