Tuner - Film Review - Fremantle Shipping News

Gayle O’Leary reviews Tuner, a debut narrative feature from Daniel Roher starring Leo Woodall, Havana Rose Liu and Dustin Hoffman that, Gayle says, blends thriller heist with comedy and romance.

In a movie that is so exquisitely focussed upon sound, I love that they address the clear “tuna” pun within the first five minutes.

Niki (Leo Woodall) is an astonishingly capable piano tuner working under the mentorship of Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), a wisecracking yet heartwarming household name with years under his belt.

Everywhere Niki goes, he wears plugs in his ears and headphones above to protect his unusually sensitive ears from “uncontrolled “sound. This sensitivity is useful for finetuning pianos. Coincidentally, it turns out to also be useful for cracking open safes.

And it escalates from there.

Every shot snaps to the next with unrestrained energy. Audiences view the quiet, steaming frustration of Niki through the reveal of a piano or the hammering keys under Ruthie’s fingertips (Havana Rose Liu), and each scene is stunning in its own right with perfect framing, blocking, and beautiful lighting. Not a moment is wasted. Many are clever and others sweet. The humour lands sharply and you warm to the characters easily.

There is devastation, ego, and heartbreak adding to the mix while we’re at it. Niki traverses an unfair life both with stoic dignity and arrogance that is frustrating to witness.

You empathise with Niki and squirm in your seat at the intense blare of horns, at firealarms, at roaring overhead planes during critical moments when focus matters so intensely. Every sound resonates. No wonder, when you learn that this is the work of Oscar winner soundscape artist Johnnie Burn, who also brought his craft to harrowing and unforgettable directorial masterpieces such as Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and Zone of Interest, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Bugonia, Poor Things, The Lobster, and The Favourite, and Jordan Peele’s terrifying Nope. Wow! WOW!

It’s exciting to consider that this is the first feature film by director Daniel Roher, who would have been in his very early thirties when starting Tuner, who joins an emerging young cohort of directors, such as twenty year old Kane Parsons (A24 horror Backrooms) and twenty seven year old Curry Barker (Obsession) breaking into the Hollywood scene.

I enjoyed a surprise Dexter cameo with CS Lee (actor of Miami detective Vince Masuka) bringing his own chilling shark-eyed presence to the set.

My only asks to improve this dynamic film would be for more of Dustin Hoffman on the screen but yet that would steal the thunder of our protagonists, and perhaps for the arc of the story to be slightly less predictable. That’s a tough call, as anticipating the consequences of Niki’s actions made the movie that much more exciting for me.

And also clearly exciting for the audience, who broke out into applause as the credits rolled!

Eight out of ten stars.

Tuner releases in theatres on June 11th and is 100% designed for you to hear the full experience in a cinema. Do not miss this one!