The documentarian to movie maker jump can sometimes seem like an impossible cliff to cross. Even tougher so if you’re a great documentarian like Daniel Roher, who got multiple AI Tech CEOs to talk onscreen and won an Oscar for Navalny. But Roher decides to dive into…piano tuners? It’s a strange choice at first, but Tuner proves Roher’s leap of faith will not kill his career: if anything he’s stronger for it, now one of the more flexible directors in Hollywood!
Leo Woodall plays Niki, a piano tuner working for Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) servicing the ultra rich in and around New York City. Niki’s excellence at the job is a gift and curse: he has hyperacusis, extremely sensitive hearing where any loud noise feels like torture, why he quit piano playing himself. Hyperacusis also allows Niki to hear more sensitively than anyone, which attracts curious student pianists like Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu)…and Lithuanian “security consultant” Uri (Lior Raz), who bumps into Niki, um, double checking if a safe in a mega millionaire’s house is secure enough while Niki’s tuning a piano.
Hyperacusis is the superpower of Tuner. So Daniel Roher’s big task is to have the audience truly understand what that means day to day for Niki. Like the stellar Sound of Metal, Tuner dives us into Niki’s head with incredible sound design. Most of the time Niki’s got double headphones on to be extra safe, meaning we’re hearing muffled discussions and giving the movie an insular feel. But when those headphones come off? Roher jars us awake with spikes in noise whether it be pianos or one of life’s unspeakably loud surprises that hurt us just as much as it hurts Niki. We also feel the after effects of those moments, this ringing/humming that’s incessant and disorienting, crippling us and Niki temporarily until it eventually fades away. The immersion tactic helps the audience understand Niki’s headspace, necessary for the events that follow to be as effective as they are.
Boy, for a documentarian, Daniel Roher also has a gifted mind for interesting storybuilding. He goes to the basics for telling any tale: who are these characters? Niki we understand above: his life is a waking contradiction, so he’s constantly defeated but angry, saved by the sweet amenable Harry, his father figure. Leo Woodall and Dustin Hoffman treat the first 20 minutes like a New York buddy comedy, wise cracking their way into your hearts as they laugh under their breath at the vapid, silly clientele they serve while enjoying a hamburger between jobs. Ruthie is archetyped as everything Niki wants to be, but cannot be because of his condition. Casting Havana Rose Liu lets Daniel Roher turn that idea into a real person, with a rich inner life that makes you want Niki and her to end up together. But the best turn is how Roher writes Uri. On paper, the Lithuanian accent and burly demeanor means we’re supposed to distrust this ahole. And yet, Uri knows this too, displaying a wit not usually given to the threatening bad guy, framing Niki’s money problems in a way that would entice him to the shady life without any physical threats. Smart bad guys always make a movie more interesting, and Lior Diaz and Daniel Roher have a great time really making Uri a much murkier villain than would appear on the surface. Writing characters like this lets the plot flow from them instead of forcing them into one, giving Tuner an unpredictability that serves it well as it heads towards its conclusion.
So kudos to you Daniel Roher. Tuner’s success hopefully means you’re gonna get to dip your toes in even bigger waters. One day there’s gonna be this unholy fusion of Roher’s documentary and fictional talents, creating some American Animals like story the likes of which we’ve never seen before. I’m guessing it’ll be about the Jail Blazers, one of the craziest assembly of NBA players ever put together. The reenactments of the shenanigans would be hella fun!