‘Tuner’ Review: A Revelatory Havana Rose Liu and Miscast Leo Woodall Lead a Pleasurable Romance About a Piano Tuner Turned Safe Cracker
The film 'Tuner' features a unique blend of romance and crime, showcasing the journey of a piano tuner turned safe cracker. Directed by Daniel Roher, the movie stars Leo Woodall as Niki, a piano virtuoso with a rare hearing condition. The narrative unfolds as Niki becomes involved in a small-time criminal enterprise while navigating his relationship with his boss, played by Dustin Hoffman.
- ▪Daniel Roher, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, directed 'Tuner', marking his transition from documentary to narrative filmmaking.
- ▪Leo Woodall plays Niki, a piano tuner whose career is disrupted by a hearing condition that makes him 'allergic to sound'.
- ▪The film incorporates a subplot involving safe-cracking, which Niki learns to do as a favor for his boss, leading to unexpected criminal involvement.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Editor’s note: This review was originally published during the 2025 Telluride Film Festival. Black Bear will release the film in theaters beginning Friday, May 22. By the age of 30, Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher had won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for “Navalny.” His next documentary, “Blink,” premiered at Telluride last year. Wasting little time, he returned to the Colorado Rockies one year later with “Tuner,” but “this one feels a little different,” he told a sold-out crow before its world premiere at the fest’s Galaxy theater. He was referring to his pivot into narrative feature filmmaking, joining a host of his documentarian contemporaries making this same move of late — including Joshua Oppenheimer whose musical “The End” also played Telluride last year.
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Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at IndieWire.
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