‘Tuner’ Is an Engaging Heist Movie That Strikes Resonant Chords

The thrills of a heist movie generally spring from the planning and execution of difficult, intricate burglaries. The moral walls that then get built up by its characters add to the genre’s themes of secrecy, emotional hoarding, and social climbing. Romance usually enters the picture, too, with a love affair neatly destabilizing one or more of the criminals. The stylish, absorbing new film “Tuner” contains many of these elements, even managing to refresh some of them, though its plot isn’t focused on a specific theft exactly but on how a fundamentally good person compromises himself by getting involved. That this character has a disorder — hyperacusis, or painful sensitivity to sound — only adds to the film’s inspired exploration of frustrated ambition and muted identity.The likable, on-the-rise actor Leo Woodall plays the hero, Niki White, a New York-based piano tuner who apprentices with elder Harry Horowitz, played by Dustin Hoffman in a small supporting role. Despite having to always wear earplugs, and even noise-canceling headphones at times, Niki excels at the job, with his auditory condition enabling him to hear minute sounds and subtle variations. The natural next step for the character, if one accepts the movie’s logic, is cracking safes with traditional locks. Lo and behold, after watching a few online videos and a small amount of practice, he becomes an expert at that, too. Tuning and safebreaking aren’t his only talents for Niki also has perfect pitch. This is revealed in a cleverly musical meet-cute scene in which Havana Rose Liu’s character, Ruthie, plays increasingly more complex chords and melodies and the handsome virtuoso identifies all the notes. We later learn he was something of a child prodigy at the piano, but the development of hyperacusis dashed his professional dreams. As a highly skilled music student, Ruthie harbors ambitions, too, specifically to work with an acclaimed composer played by Jean Reno (“The Professional”).Niki’s descent into larceny begins one night when he meets a trio of Israeli security contractors attempting to forcibly open a safe in the mansion of an obnoxious wealthy man. Our protagonist is there working on a piano to be played by the Piano Man himself at a charity event — Billy Joel unfortunately never appears. Coming upon the burglars, who ironically were hired by the owner for their security expertise, he offers to help them, if only to stop them from making noise since tuning requires silence. Soon, though, they reach out to him to join them on other jobs, and Niki gets hooked on the fast money. This cash is mostly used to pay for Harry’s medical bills, particularly when the older man has a heart attack and lands in the hospital, one that Niki disparages. When combined with the strained financial situation of Harry and his wife Marla, played by Tovah Feldshuh, this reference to crummy healthcare reveals writer-director Daniel Roher’s intention to mine a topical vein of economic anxiety and anger. In one scene, the thieving trio’s leader, Uri (Lior Raz), declares how the safe they’re about to crack belongs to a subprime lending executive who evicts minorities from their homes. In another, crypto is directly aligned with criminality. It’s also the second film in less than a month to refer to the economic concept of marginal utility.As one might expect from a tale of a piano tuner, music is central to the film’s themes and concept. Grammy-winning producer Marius de Vries wrote all the compositions performed in the movie, including the symphonic piece Ruthie is working on and which we hear in its entirety at her graduating artist recital, while musician Will Bates created the non-diegetic music made up of different genres, including jazz and ambient techno. When in rhythm with the sharp editing, the music helps to maintain the picture’s entertaining atmosphere.Impactful sound design also contributes greatly to the sonic mood. Intermittent opportunities arise for Johnnie Burn, who won an Academy Award for his work on “The Zone of Interest,” to immerse the viewer in Niki’s acoustic point of view, allowing us to get a sense of his submerged, insular perspective and the pain he experiences at times. Crucially, Mr. Woodall also conveys Niki’s sense of detachment, low-key demeanor, and physical struggles, with the young actor proving he can carry a film. During an especially impressive scene before the third act, the actor is able to muddy Mr. Roher’s almost unbelievably elevated conception of the character by displaying Niki’s jealousy of Ruthie’s abilities and career prospects while simultaneously hinting at his self-loathing and need to protect her. What Niki needs to protect her from is Uri’s vengeance once he decides to no longer participate in the latter’s heists after one ends up in shocking violence. Of course, extricating himself isn’t easy, particularly when a stolen item is found to be a Holocaust heirloom. This plot development segues with Mr. Roher’s integration of Jewish customs, Yiddish words, and more, and one can even interpret it as a rebuke to the idea of wealth redistribution given that it aligns safecracking with the Nazi confiscation of Jewish property. Yet the mildly menacing Uri is himself Jewish, and the reading of a political message in what is essentially escapist fare may be foolhardy, despite the director being known for his documentaries, including the Oscar-winning “Navalny” about the now-deceased Russian activist. Ultimately, and thankfully, what “Tuner” most emits is old-school thrills and old-fashioned melodrama, the kind one seeks out on a Friday or Saturday night.

‘Tuner’ Is an Engaging Heist Movie That Strikes Resonant Chords

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