Harry (Dustin Hoffman) runs a piano repair business and Niki (Leo Woodall) is his apprentice. Niki is a piano virtuoso, but doesn’t play anymore because he suffers from hyperacusis, a condition that essentially means he’s allergic to loud noises and must wear earplugs all the time. This condition also means that (for the sake for this story) his sensitive hearing makes him perfect for cracking safes.
The movie opens with Niki and Harry tuning a piano for a very wealthy client. Making house calls together we get to see how close these two are (like father and son). A large part of Tuner is built on the compelling chemistry between characters and so much emphasis is put on “sitting down and getting to know you” scenes, where we become familiar with characters through slower paced bonding sequences. Whether it’s conversations between the Niki and Harry characters, or Niki and his love interest Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), or when Niki falls in with a group of criminals, theses bonding sequences do nothing but favors for one’s investment in and the watchability of this movie.
Though I haven’t mentioned it yet, this is a heist movie. But writer/director Daniel Roher (Navalny) does present a quieter more delicate type of heist movie, that along with a classic jazzy heist score, allows this film to seem timeless. Think Baby Driver but turned down to a five. The casting of Woodall also helps, as he has one of those Tom Hardy, could’ve been a leading man in any era, type of faces.
The outline of this movie is very recognizable, or some may even call it “cliché”. A love story between a poor but handsome troubled young man and an ambitious and empathetic beautiful young college woman. Money problems arise and this poor but handsome troubled young man must resort to engaging in some criminal activities, but in secret and for a good cause because he’s not really a bad guy. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, but it’s very done well. And that again turns into an argument for its watchability.
For all it has going for it, Turner does stumble a bit in its third act. For one, the film never quite hits the peak emotional impact that Roher strives for. When certain tragic events occur or the culmination of the love story plays out, it doesn’t hit in a way that would have you reaching for a tissue. But this isn’t the biggest issue. The biggest issue stems from a single forced plot contrivance that was so distracting and such an unnecessary “how convenient” moment, that for the final 20 minutes the cliché-ness of it all that I’d found quite enjoyable became far less enjoyable and sadly much more exposed.
Final Thought: Because it isn’t flashy or “new”, Tuner is a movie that is destined to be lost in the shuffle. But in an age of soulless sequels and unwanted reboots, I must again give props to Roher for making a movie like this. Because making movies using concepts and storylines that have been done to death, but making them well, will always be worth a watch.
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