Flawed ‘Tuner’ has fun mixing etudes with attitude
You don’t notice it immediately, but there’s something a bit off with “Tuner,” Oscar-winning director Daniel Roher’s feature-film debut about an apprentice piano technician lending his acute hearing skills to a criminal enterprise. It’s like an E sharp sounding too much like an F flat, an ever-so-minute difference that can only be detected by a trained ear. Then, around an hour in, it hits you. The anomaly rests within a script that depends too heavily on outlandish coincidences, with the last few being bona fide eye-rollers.
I wish I could reveal the blunders, but that would involve way too many spoilers. But as I said, these are quibbles that may not register beyond professional nitpickers. Yet, they continue to vex even as I seek to quiet them by singing the praises of a film that gets so much right, beginning with a superb cast led by megastar-in-the-making Leo Woodall of “White Lotus” fame. He’s Niki White, a former piano wunderkind whose fast-track to Carnegie Hall was cruelly derailed by hyperacusis, an aural disorder that makes him hypersensitive to loud, unexpected ambient sounds, like car horns, barking dogs, or EDM.
It’s a malady sound designer Johnnie Burn immerses us in, enabling us to hear the muffled, gabbled world Niki hears from beneath his ever-present noise-canceling headphones. And when those pods accidentally come off, watch out. It gets loud with a capital L.
Fortunately for him, he only removes them at work, in silence, so he can put his perfect pitch to use assisting veteran New York City piano tuner Harry Horowitz (a brief turn by Dustin Hoffman). To Harry and his adoring wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh), Niki is much more than just a protégé; he’s like a son. As such, Niki is in line to inherit the family business. Likely sooner than later, after Harry’s latest health scare lands him in the hospital, where Niki learns the Horowitzs are $36,000 in arrears from having lost their health insurance.
Not to worry, with precision timing and maximum opportunity, Niki stumbles upon a solution while working a solo gig in a billionaire’s suburban mansion. There’s supposed to be no one at home, which is why the loud noises emanating from upstairs draw his attention. Instead of calling the cops, he nonchalantly walks in on a band of Israeli “security system installers” running a side scam, pilfering cash and jewelry from their wealthiest customers.
How convenient that the crooks, led by the burly, somewhat frightening Uri (Lior Raz), find themselves in immediate need of a safe cracker. And wouldn’t you know it, it was only minutes earlier that we witnessed Niki opening a safe that Harry absent-mindedly lost the combination to. You don’t suppose Niki might come to Uri’s rescue, too, do ya? Of course, he does; we wouldn’t have a movie if he didn’t.
Niki also wouldn’t have the wad of cash the felons reward him for aiding and abetting; money he will later use to help pay down Harry’s debt. And guess what? There’s more of where that came from, enough to both make the Horowitzes whole and enable Niki to purchase Harry’s van and business. Talk about miracles! But that’s just the start of Niki’s run of incredible luck. He also just happens to accidentally run into Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), the music composition student he met cute a few scenes earlier while tuning a piano at the Brooklyn Conservatory.
It’s love at first note. But how can they ever hope for a future, given Niki’s association with a roach-motel-ish band of thieves who allow him to check in but never check out? And isn’t it a bit risky gifting that stolen antique Rolex to Ruthie? “Where did you get this?” she rightfully asks. An “estate sale,” he answers sheepishly. Gullibly, she believes him. But it will hardly be the last we hear of that engraved timepiece and its convoluted ties to the Holocaust.
OK, enough with the sarcasm. Here’s what I like about “Tuner.” And it all begins with Woodall’s natural charm and charisma. His Niki is a liar and a thief, which makes him dangerous, and thus, sexy as hell. Even if you hate the film’s obsession with serendipity, you adore Woodall’s subtle, wrenching portrayal of a prodigy whose sensitive hearing robs him of his dreams but also opens the door for him to rob.
Liu’s Ruthie is a goner the second they exchange googly eyes. So are we, because the two share a chemistry that directors can only dream of. And Roher takes full advantage, molding his film, co-written with Robert Ramsey, into an engaging hybrid of crime drama and swoony rom-com, a la “Drive.” In other words, all the ingredients for a summer-sleeper hit. But those damned coincidences! Precious few of them essential to the plot.
You desperately want to cut Roher a break. After all, this is the documentarian’s first go-round with feature filmmaking in the wake of taking home the Oscar for his riveting “Navalny.” But it’s hard to excuse his overreliance on clichés and predictable plot twists. Still, if you approach “Tuner” simply as the fun, forgettable ride it is, it will almost assuredly tickle your ivories.
Movie review
Tuner
Rated: R for language throughout, drug use, brief nudity and some violence
Cast: Leo Woodall, Dustin Hoffman, Havana Rose Liu, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh and Jean Reno
Director: Daniel Roher
Writer: Robert Ramsey and Daniel Roher
Runtime: 109 minutes
Where: In theaters May 22 (limited)
Grade: B-
