Joel on Film

Leo Woodall’s performance as the eponymous piano tuner in co-writer/director Daniel Roher’s Tuner is often so good at reminding us of what really matters about this character that we consistently forget that this movie is technically a thriller—albeit one played at a low key (pun thoroughly intended, alongside any others that might come up here). Its thriller element resides in a gimmick and is fueled by a healthy amount of contrivance and convenience, all of which make themselves known during the first phase of a melodramatic climax. Woodall, though, either doesn’t seem to know this about the movie he is in or seeks outright to undermine it.

It’s a special quality in an actor, obviously, because nothing about this character is as gimmicky as the plot-specific medical condition he must juggle with an existence in a world it does not fit. Woodall’s Niki has hyperacusis, which is marked by a low tolerance for environmental noise and increased sensitivity to subtle noises. In other words, it means he’s perfect for the job he has: tuning pianos with his longtime family friend and makeshift sort-of-uncle Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) or, if necessary, outright fixing them on a structural level.

Indeed, Niki’s perfect sense of pitch is what gets him involved in both sides of the plot of Roher and Robert Ramsey’s screenplay. There’s the matter of a budding romance with aspiring concert pianist Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), who is initially bemused by his lack of any obvious personality, impressed by his skill of identifying any and all notes she plays on a piano (even with multiple keys pressed simultaneously) and, eventually, attracted to his love of music and his respect for her dream. For a while, then, this is merely a romantic drama between two like souls.

There is also, though, the other matter, which arises in the form of Uri (Lior Raz), a powerful criminal and the head of a gang of thieves, who presents Niki an ultimatum: crack the safe he caught them trying to infiltrate (belonging to a wealthy homeowner who, they argue, won’t miss anything they steal, as long as its disappearance is subtle) or, well, they’ll crack him, essentially. In the first convenience of the story, it turns out that Niki had learned how to crack safes on the internet after discovering that much of it lies in the subtlety of listening to the clicks of the combination lock. So, of course, in addition to the tuning of pianos, he’s perfect for another, less unethical job.

Niki needs the money, too, especially after a heart attack lands Harry in the hospital and the bills stack up into the five figures. Piano tuning without Harry just isn’t cutting it financially anymore, and thinking, perhaps naively, that Uri and his crew (a pair of seemingly harmless henchmen, played by Nissan Sakira and Gil Cohen) aren’t so bad after all, Niki agrees to do more jobs for them. Obviously, it’s not that simple.

The film settles into a comfortable, back-and-forth rhythm between the two story lines, as Niki and Ruthie grow closer and the safecracking gets him more and more money. This is more than enough to get by, but what consistently surprises is how understated Niki as a character and Woodall’s performance are. The actor shares solid chemistry with Liu, though it’s also appreciated how the character of Ruthie isn’t solely defined by her relationship with a man—conversations revealing her inner insecurities and ambitious dreams, juxtaposed with his story of having developed the hyperacusis and, over time, treated it, but killing his own dream to follow the path on which Ruthie now finds herself.

Of course, hanging over everything is the criminal enterprise, which eventually puts everyone around Niki—including Ruthie and Harry and Harry’s wife Marla (Tovah Feldshuh)—in the path of potential retribution. The circling-the-drain quality of the narrative is a little tiresome, to be sure, but it does introduce some tension into the mix. The genuinely surprising climax, which introduces a new character played by Jean Reno, might have been a fascinating movie all its own, meanwhile, because it introduces a new, comparatively lo-fi set of stakes into the mix.

Throughout, Woodall anchors this by never playing this character as a broad gimmick, just because the movie has afforded one to his character, and that, above all else, is key to why the movie works as well as it often does, despite some of its storytelling issues. Tuner is a tremendous showcase for a truly promising young actor.

Rating: *** (out of ****)