Tuner stars Leo Woodall (The White Lotus Season 2) as Niki White, a piano tuner with a hypersensitive hearing condition called hyperacusis. This movie kind of flew under the radar, but it’s a tense thriller with a surprisingly emotional story.
Leo’s piano tuning boss and father figure is Harry Horowitz played by Dustin Hoffman. Niki is shy, reclusive and physically sensitive to the noises of New York City while Horowitz is outgoing and charming in an embarrassing Dad kind of way.
Niki’s condition makes him a gifted piano tuner and the duo service wealthy residents across New York. Their relationship is light and silly, with Harry lecturing Niki on the dangers of mercury in tuna after polishing off a tuna salad sandwich.
One night, Niki is working alone when he hears loud noises inside his clients house. As he walks upstairs to inspect, he stumbles upon a trio of men trying to drill open a safe. They claim to be security professionals which is clearly a lie, but Niki isn’t looking to play hero. He simply asks how long the job will take so he can resume piano tuning in needed silence. Uri played by Lior Raz gets aggressive and says “As long as it fucking takes. So, unless you can open the safe, fuck off.”
It turns out, cracking a safe oddly parallels piano tuning and out of desperation Niki opens it. Uri is astonished by this feat and tosses Niki a stack of cash, encouraging him to reach out if he ever wants to make some serious money. Niki’s newfound skill emerges at a pivotal time as Harry has mounting medical bills and somehow, Niki goes from piano tuner to safe cracker.
Leo Wooddall really helps you feel the pain of hyperacusis and with a little romance, some robberies and a glimpse into the life Niki had to surrender due to his condition, this movie offers a roller coaster of a ride.
I’ll give this one 4 out of 5 stars on my arbitrary scale. My only gripe was not seeing Niki’s character dish out more revenge, but I felt the ending tied a beautiful bow on this story.
Seth Borkowski is a NYC-based writer, comedian and paranormal enthusiast. He’s the host of The Spiritual Skeptic, a comedy podcast exploring aliens, spirituality, and other weird shit too.
