Tuner (15)

Music prodigy Niki White gave up playing piano because of his hyperacusis. After two years of exposure therapy, he can function in the hubbub of New York by wearing noise-dampening ear protection. Niki puts his hypersensitivity to good use by training alongside revered piano tuner Harry Horowitz/ During a solo late-night visit to a wealthy client's home, Niki interrupts a robbery masterminded by security company owner Uri and silences the incessant drilling by opening the homeowner's safe.

LondonNet Film Review

Tuner (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Be still for 30 seconds and listen. What do you hear? A barking dog? A car alarm? Overlapping conversations? Background chatter from a television? A slamming door? Emergency services sirens? The brain filters out some of the ambient noise but imagine if your hearing was so sensitive that everyday sounds were painfully and debilitatingly loud. This is the reality of the unassuming hero of Daniel Roher’s nifty crime thriller, which takes a few (music) cues from Sound Of Metal and creates an immersive sound design that deliberately muffles or dials up the volume to allow us to experience – albeit briefly – the central character’s auditory discomfort…

Music prodigy Niki White (Leo Woodall) gave up playing piano because of his hyperacusis. After two years of exposure therapy, he can function in the hubbub of New York by wearing noise-dampening ear protection and taking necessary precautions. “You’d be surprised how loud the world is,” he tells a clueless new acquaintance. Niki puts his hypersensitivity to good use by training alongside revered piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), who was a good friend of Niki’s late father. During a solo late-night visit to a wealthy client’s home, Niki interrupts a robbery masterminded by security company owner Uri (Lior Raz) and silences the incessant drilling by coolly opening the homeowner’s safe using the combination dials.

Uri offers Niki a job in his larcenous crew, comprising Yoni (Gil Cohen) and Benny (Nissan Sakira) but the piano tuner is not interested until Harry suffers a heart attack and wife Marla (Tovah Feldshuh) reveals they are 36,000 dollars in debt before they attempt to settle any hospital bills. To protect the man he considers a second father, Niki becomes a willing accomplice to Uri’s crimes, earning 10,000 dollars for each job. Gifted music student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), who has feelings for Niki, becomes potential collateral damage when two worlds collide.

Tuner is a solidly composed thriller of triumph against adversity that strongly leverages Woodall’s undimmable star quality. He spent months learning to play the piano from scratch to convincingly portray a once-in-a-generation talent thwarted by a rare auditory disorder. Delightful rapport with Hoffman’s gruff mentor creates a brisk tempo for the opening 30 minutes. Screen chemistry between Woodall and Liu feels like a gentle tinkle of the ivories.

Co-writers Roher and Robert Ramsey fling satisfyingly large obstacles in Niki’s path, like staging one robbery in a home situated beneath a flight path so he must crack open the safe in short bursts between planes coming in to land. However, for the crescendo, the scriptwriters rely on a coincidence so outlandish they have one character draw attention to their preposterousness on screen. It is a rare bum note but one that lingers.

– Jo Planter