FILM REVIEW
TUNER
Rated R
109 Minutes
Released May 29th
Tuner is a piano concerto of a movie, a gripping short story captured as if in a musical composition. It’s expertly shot, artfully edited, and the story is told as much in sounds and music as dialogue, a style similar to one of my all-time favorite films, Baby Driver. The sound and visuals work together so well that they make you become part of the film.
Because the director, Daniel Roher is an experienced documentarian, this film feels true, and the similarity between two key components of the story is observed in minute detail, those being pianos and safe locks.
This story wraps you into the world of a young man, “Niki,” played superbly by Leo Woodall. Niki is an apprentice to a long-time, beloved piano tuner, “Harry Horowitz,” brought to life by Dustin Hoffman. We gradually delve into Niki’s history. We are introduced to his complex and resilient personality through his reactions, choices and actions, what he chooses to wear, and his carefully framed sentences, as he goes about his job.
We see glimpses of underlying tragedy in his past. Niki has a hearing affliction, hyperacusis, that frames his entire world. It’s an acute sensitivity to all sounds that turns the normal noises of daily life into a deafening cacophony. It’s also what makes Niki an excellent candidate for the job he’s training for. Niki’s talents and affliction allow him to recognize minute differences in sounds, and he is also a trained musician with perfect pitch.
This gives him the perfect skill set for listening for the intricate metallic clinks of tumblers in a safe lock dial. Of course, fate draws Niki accidentally into the nefarious world of those who would use his talent for illegal means.
The film centers around Niki, but every character in his life becomes part of a tapestry of well thought out color and rich background. This attention to minute detail is probably due to the background of writer/director Roher as a fine documentary filmmaker. Jean Reno, for example, appears briefly as a music professor, and visually resembles a composite of two legendary 20th Century composers, Dimitri Shostakovich and Igor Stravinsky.
Roher was worried about his lack of experience working with actors, but says of his stars, Woodall and Havana Rose Liu, who plays concert pianist “Ruthie,” “Havana and Leo, they were both magnetic. You stick a camera 6 inches from their nose, they have this presence, this movie star thing that most people do not have.”
Woodall comes from a family of British thespians and has been acting since childhood. He went through months of extensive training to learn to play piano for Tuner, and he researched a friend of Roher’s who has hyperacusis. Liu is a professional model, singer, actor, dancer, painter, artist and jewelry-maker who played Rachel Sennott’s comedic lesbian friend in the comedy Bottoms.
She also spent hours a day for months training on the piano for Tuner. Both look like virtuosos in the film. Woodall and Hoffman were taught the specifics of piano tuner trade by two piano tuners that Roher hired to be on set, one of whom had been the inspiration for the movie. Hoffman is a jazz aficionado and especially loves Herbie Hancock, who makes a cameo appearance in the film.
Writer/director Daniel Roher is only in his early 30’s. His film Navalny, a study of the Soviet dissident who later was poisoned and died in prison, won the 2022 Oscar for Best Feature Documentary. Roher sees the similarity in documentary and fiction in the storytelling – in one case you are writing as you are shooting, and in the other, you write and then you shoot. He says, “at the end of the day, it’s storytelling.” Documentary is a solid background for feature film directors. Many of the greatest have been documentarians, including Werner Herzog, Martin Scorsese, Agnes Varda and Ava Duvernay.
Roher explains that before writing Tuner he was going through a period in his life where he felt rudderless. He met a piano tuner and this tuner “talked like a philosopher” about the forces that make a piano go out of tune. This is how Hoffman’s character developed, who is losing his hearing, and Woodall’s, afflicted with over-sensitive ears.
Tuner does not seem like it’s the first feature for Roher. It’s a very sophisticated, highly creative and complex story with music-like variations. This is truly a great film, from the writing and the storytelling to the acting, the camera work, and above all, the sound. It will make you realize how important sound is in your life, in so many ways.
Rob Reiner, whom Roher had met at Sundance, gave him notes on making his first feature. “Rob told me, ‘Make the movie fun,” Roher says. “Create something that people want to watch, make it entertaining. Put substance in there but keep it fast on its feet.’” Tuner is dedicated to Rob and Michelle Reiner. I believe Tuner should receive multiple Oscar nominations. The film uses every aspect of cinema to its fullest.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
