TUNER : Tuesday 23rd June 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'TUNER' earlier this week, and this USA and Canadian Co-Produced crime thriller film is Co-Written and Directed by Daniel Roher in his debut narrative fiction film following his documentaries 'Once Were Brothers : Robbie Robertson and the Band' in 2019 and the Academy Award winning 'Navalny' in 2022, and 'The AI Doc : Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist' which Premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January this year and is scheduled for release later on in 2026. The film had its World Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival in late August last year, was released in the US towards the end of May, has garnered generally positive critical acclaim, and has so far recouped US$10M at the Box Office from its US$7M production budget outlay. 

The film opens with a montage of Niki White (Leo Woodall), the very capable assistant of New York City piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) a friend of his late father, going from one NYC upmarket residence to another tuning the piano's of the mostly rich, and in some cases, famous. Once a gifted musician, Niki has hyperacusis (an increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for environmental noise) and can no longer play piano, wearing ear protection at all times against loud noises. After Harry forgets the combination to his safe, Niki teaches himself to open it with the aid of search engine tutorials and his heightened sense of hearing, discovering a talent for safe-cracking.

One day, while tuning a grand piano at a music conservatory, Niki meets Ruthie Waymon (Havana Rose Liu), a determined student pianist. At a wealthy client’s home that is being refurbished where Niki is told to return after 8:00pm when the place will be free of tradesmen and their associated noise, he is disturbed by a trio of Israeli thieves and breaks into the safe for them under false pretences, earning a job offer from their leader, Uri (Lior Raz). 

With Harry’s encouragement, Niki strikes up a romance with Ruthie after repairing her treasured piano that her aunt left her when she passed away. Niki explains that it took years of exposure therapy to manage his sensitivity to sound, and that he has perfect pitch. After Harry is hospitalised after a heart attack, Niki accepts Uri’s offer, determined to save Harry and his wife Marla from debt. Proving himself on Uri’s own safe, Niki joins him, his accomplice Yoni (Gil Cohen), and nephew Benny (Nissan Sakira) as they use their security company to rob wealthy homes, but only stealing what the owners are unlikely to miss. Overcoming Ruthie’s misgivings about their relationship, Niki gives her a stolen watch which he says he bought at a market, that it wasn't expensive, and that is almost identical to a second heirloom left to her by her aunt, and which Ruthie said she lost on a bus. Niki introduces Ruthie to Marla (Tovah Feldshuh) and the bedridden Harry in hospital, secretly paying down their hospital bills which amount to US$36K, in US$10K instalments. 

With Niki now on the fairly lucrative payroll of Uri, he enlists Niki to open a safe for a pair of Korean gangsters, retrieving the seed phrase to their uncle’s cryptocurrency wallet. The uncle arrives, holding everyone at gunpoint and forcing Niki to eat the only copy of the twelve word password, but is shot dead by Benny. Niki flees in agony as the gun shot was fired directly over his head. Later that evening Niki logs into the Cryto account and had memorised the twelve word passcode discovering that the wallet holds close to US$18M. Harry dies, and Uri surprises Niki at shiva, demanding his help to steal the digital key to the uncle’s money, or failing that Ruthie might befall a tragic accident to her hands. 

A grieving Niki decides not to join the robbery, but Ruthie’s anxiety about her upcoming performance and his own resentments of his long foregone musical career lead them to lash out at each other. Storming out of her apartment saying that he was a far better piano player that she has ever hoped to be, Niki is captured by Uri’s crew in the apartment car park. Disoriented by an air horn blasted in his ear by Uri, he is forced to open the uncle’s safe before racing to Ruthie’s performance of her original work, with renowned composer Marius Maissner (Jean Reno) in the audience. Maissner invites Ruthie to join a new project as his assistant in Europe, but recognises her watch as his own grandmother’s heirloom, which survived the Holocaust alongside his grandfather’s watch before they were both stolen from his safe. Niki arrives and is confronted by Ruthie, and admits the truth to Maissner. Assuring him that Ruthie is blameless, Niki offers to recover his grandfather’s watch in exchange for not involving the Police, to which Maissner reluctantly agrees.

Later, on a Saturday night when Uri's security company warehouse is used to host dance parties, Niki is caught breaking into Uri’s safe. Bundled outside and beaten up, Niki begs for the watch and reveals its Holocaust history. He convinces Benny and Yoni, but Uri viciously beats him and ruptures his eardrums in the process again using the air horn which he holds as close to his ear as he can get and blasts away. Waking up in hospital, Niki discovers that doctors successfully repaired his earlobe damaged by Yuri, and that he is now partially deafened, but no longer needs earplugs to tolerate noise. Uri has also left him the watch. Leaving Marla almost US$1M which he syphoned off from the crypto account, remembering what Uri told him to only take what the owner is unlikely to miss. Niki delivers the watch to a grateful Maissner stating that he is absolved, and who leaves him and Ruthie alone together. As an emotional Ruthie looks on, Niki gives a virtuoso piano performance for the first time in years, before declaring that the E flat is off. 

In his narrative feature debut Daniel Roher has delivered us a mash up of the heist movie, with RomCom elements, great virtuoso piano work, and a melodramatic buddy film, which may sound as though he's bitten off more than he can chew here, but it works, and it does so convincingly. All of these separate ingredients don't compete with each other, rather they complement one another to make for an enjoyable movie experience that is greater than the sum of its parts. Leo Woodall as the Tuner Niki has proven his leading man status here, ably supported by all too brief screentime played out by Hoffman and Reno. I wasn't so convinced by the relationship between Ruthie and Niki however, as I'm not sure that such a driven and determined musical talent as Ruthie would let a relationship get in the way of her ultimate goal. That said, this little film is a rare delight, that offers up something for almost everyone. See it on the big screen with the best immersive sound system you can - you won't be disappointed. 

'Tuner' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps. 

   

-Steve, at Odeon Online-