Movie Review: "Tuner" Hits All The Right Notes

Writing thrillers and writing songs are kindred spirits in a way: they’re all about rhythm. Sharpness in both dialogue (see: Michael Clayton) and action (see: Hell or High Water) creates propulsion, percussively jumping from beat to beat to seamless effect. Narratively speaking, the art of keeping one on their toes is naturally jazz-like, twisting and turning at a moment's notice without rhythmic compromise. That space between artist and audience is — at its best — pure electricity, and can shorten the longest of runtimes into an unbroken blur. This all brings me to Academy Award-winning documentarian Daniel Roher’s first narrative feature, Tuner. A groundbreaker Tuner is not, but like a reconditioned piano, it’s well-polished enough to get the job done right.

Leo Woodall stars as Niki, a former gifted pianist who, due to a severe case of hyperacusis (a condition where ordinary sounds are instead uncomfortably loud), fixes pianos alongside his uncle Harry (Dustin Hoffman). When a late-night repair turns into a home invasion, Niki is recruited by three thieves as their on-call safecracker. Thanks to an incredible soundscape from auricular savant Johnnie Burn (whose work on The Zone of Interest haunts me to this day), Tuner works as a character study by placing you directly between Niki’s ears. The satisfying sound of gears slowly clicking and clacking behind locked safes feels like having your brain flossed, and turns Niki’s condition into not only a borderline superpower but a sea of opportunities.

Tuner’s New York City backdrop and “white guy trying to make ends meet” premise is strongly reminiscent of Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme, though the central romance and Roher’s sense of snappy fervor rather fall in line with Edgar Wright’s Baby Driver, minus the overt genre elements. Tuner’s obviously indebted to Michael Mann’s Thief and Steven Soderbergh heist films, though intertextuality is always exciting to me. Co-written by Robert Ramsey, Roher’s screenplay works via familiar beats with a formalist flair, working within the confines of a run-of-the-mill crime story to great effect. As a piece of cinematic homage, it’s a solid pairing with Bart Layton’s recent Crime 101, though Tuner ekes out by being over half an hour shorter and far more contained.

As with its influences and contemporaries, Niki’s criminal career is morally challenged by a budding romance with piano protégé Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). Charming as their romance is, there’s also a quiet jealousy on Niki’s side, as she lives the life he wants. On top of the whole “young and stupid” schtick is a genuine fragility in Niki, wonderfully conveyed by Leo Woodall. Where Havana Rose Liu has always been a scene-stealer in whatever she was in and has launched into stardom, Woodall shows enough potential to catapult him from studio romcoms and Netflix miniseries. There’s a universe where his career goes the way of Taylor Kitsch’s and Garrett Hedlund’s, though I pray that never becomes the case.

Daniel Roher is neither the first nor the last director to transition from nonfiction to fiction (Lance Oppenheim is up next with the Chris Hansen biopic Primetime), though Roher’s first foray into narrative filmmaking is far from a rough landing. Tuner marks Daniel Roher’s fourth feature-length film, following Blink, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band, and Navalny (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Documentary). Where Tuner really shines is in its editing, sporting many great montages that keep the pace as tight as possible. Not one minute of Tuner can be classified as “boring,” even if it may veer too far into familiarity. It’s not a once-in-a-lifetime type of movie, though Roher shows an immense amount of promise going forward.

Even if it’s sometimes predictable, there’s enough directorial prowess in Tuner to at least dub Roher as someone to take note of going forward, while Woodall seems to be on the up and up. The best thing a film can be is fully conscious of what it is, and that’s one of Tuner’s many qualities. It’s smart, self-aware, and goes down smoothly. Between Niki and Roher, there’s an undeniable sense of passion on both sides of the camera with a verve that only comes from the young and hungry. Is Tuner a groundbreaking piece of thriller filmmaking? Not really. But not everything needs to be an absolute game-changer, either.