'Tuner' Review
- Dempsey Pillot
- May 27
- 3 min read
Release Date: 05/29/26 [Cinemas]
Genre: Crime. Drama. Music. Romance. Thriller.
MPAA: Rated R.
Distributor: Black Bear.
The Verdict: A Must-See
There are few thrillers where the tension is so palpable you can hear it. But Daniel Roher’s Tuner is a splendid exception. Like music on sheet paper, its premise about a piano tuner who gets involved with a group of small time crooks sounds flat - until it’s played in front of the right audience. The result is a spellbinding symphony of chaos destined to go down as one of the best films of the year.
Set in New York City, the film follows Niki, a former piano prodigy forced to stop playing due to a rare hearing condition. Despite such a sensitive ear, he remains close to the instrument making ends meet as a piano tuner alongside one his late father’s old friends, Harry. As you might expect, the job is as profitable as it is thankless. So it comes as no surprise when Niki decides to use his ability to crack safes - a talent he teaches himself early on in the film - to help a group of thieves and secure some extra money. But as he falls in deeper with the group, his life devolves into a medley of mayhem.
Leo Woodall delivers a terrific and tender performance as Niki. It’s not just that he brilliantly balances the angst of having a hearing disorder and the struggle of being an artist truly starved of stardom. It’s that he does it all with very little dialogue. Even when he starts to see a student pianist named Ruthie (his love interest, played by Havana Rose Liu), you can feel how much it pains him that he can no longer use music as an outlet. The fact that he delivers such a great performance while also holding his own against the legendary Dustin Hoffman is the cherry on top.
Hoffman plays Niki’s fellow tuner, Harry. While Niki is technically his protege, the two are undeniable friends. Harry is Niki’s moral compass in the film, reminding him of the importance of their work and of being a good person. Hoffman is only in the film for a brief time. He falls ill early on, leaving Niki to deal with the struggling business, but (unsurprisingly) he’s still got it. His performance is so impactful that you can’t help but feel each of Niki’s decisions being influenced by how Harry would judge him.
Now, it’s not every day that an Academy Award-winning documentarian moves on to making a narrative film, but Daniel Roher makes it look shockingly easy here. Believe it or not, Roher previously directed the 2022 political documentary Navalny. Now, the circumstances of Niki and Navalny’s lives are nothing alike. But that’s the point. With Tuner, effectively establishes himself as a person who just wants to tell good stories - regardless of genre or medium.
Where Roher’s fearless search for the truth and justice in Navalny’s life defined that film, his commitment to putting ourselves in Niki’s shoes defines Tuner. He does so with constant extreme emphasis on the sounds that both motivate Niki and that he is most susceptible. That includes close-ups to wound-up and broken chords, as well as all the intricate safe lock mechanisms he has to crack. In fact, it can be argued that the film’s only other true star (besides Woodall) is the sound design. Whether he’s in complete ecstasy or in utter pain, Roher masterfully orchestrates it to make sure the audience and Niki are in sync.
The film isn’t pitch perfect, but is remarkably close, with the only major criticism being that it starts to flounder in the third act. Niki’s crimes finally catch up to him and becomes entwined with Ruthie’s future as a pianist all due to some grand cosmic coincidence. It’s a crescendo that’s sure to cue an eye-roll from some. But it doesn’t detract from the total composition.
All at once, Tuner is an impressive narrative feature debut, a star-making vehicle and a neo-thriller comparable to classics such as Thief and Drive. You don’t have to be fan of music or film to see that it measures up to a good time on a grand scale.
