Tuner

June 5 – 11

Fri June 5 – 3:30 & 7:00 pm
Sat June 6 – 7:00 pm
Sun June 7 – CLOSED FOR PLANNED POWER OUTAGE
Mon June 8 – 7:00 pm
Tues June 9 – 7:00 pm
Wed June 10 – 3:30 pm
Thurs June 11 – 1:30 & 7:00 pm – LAST SHOW

Rated 14A – 1hr 47min
Drama / Crime / Thriller / Romance

Like a piano abandoned in the family living room after the kids go away to college, the highly structured theatrical crime thriller of the nineties and aughts has fallen out of tune over the years. Tuner’s arrival to the big screen this weekend, then, comes with the satisfaction of hearing a half-forgotten old standard played warmly, note for note.

It’s the story of Niki, a working class New York piano tuner (Leo Woodall, The White Lotus) with hyperacusis (a clinical oversensitivity to sound), a loving and lovable but notably ailing mentor named Harry (Dustin Hoffman), mad medical bills to pay, and a chip on his shoulder the size of a major third. He used to be a piano prodigy; now he wears two layers of headphones all day lest the wail of a fire alarm knock him unconscious. Still, his preternaturally perfect pitch makes him ideally suited to prepare the instruments he no longer plays to outlet the ambitions and foibles of others–– the idle rich, the high powered professionals, the stressed-out  music students.

It also makes him the perfect criminal safe-cracker, a talent he comes into sideways when a late night date with a Steinway meant for Billy Joel goes awry because the robbers breaking in upstairs are being too noisy for him to work. The only solution: break in for them and get it done in half the time. When Harry ends up in the hospital soon thereafter, our young hero begins a double life as he tries to get the girl, a conservatory genius named Ruthie (a highly charismatic Havana Rose Liu), and get his father figure out of medical debt.

Few directors of documentaries have ever made such a striking transition to dramatic films as Daniel Roher, the director of Tuner. An Oscar winner just a few years ago for Navalny, Roher has now crafted an engaging mix of character study and suspense caper. Well received in Telluride and Toronto last year, the movie should find an appreciative audience in theaters and beyond. In addition, it is sure to push leading man Leo Woodall into the rare coterie of charismatic heartthrobs who also happen to be superlative actors.

A laid-back rom-com crossed with a low-key crime thriller, combined with something more serious — unafraid to ask existential questions about overcoming a handicap that directly impacts one’s art — Tuner feels like the discovery of the Telluride Film Festival, where it world-premiered without a distributor in place. Roher’s winsome debut feels more like a throwback to well-written character-driven ’90s dramas like Good Will Hunting and Shine, or last year’s Thelma (which proves the endangered category ain’t dead yet).

This is a charming, thrilling, and creative heist film about a man who uses his hearing condition to crack safes. The result is an original and endlessly entertaining movie that sounds just right.