Fresh off his Oscar-winning documentary work, Daniel Roher steps into narrative filmmaking with Tuner, and the result is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year.
At its core, Tuner is a sharply tuned, tightly wound crime thriller, but what makes it work so well is how confidently it blends multiple genres without ever feeling messy. It’s part buddy comedy, part romance, part crime film, and part character drama, and somehow all of those elements come together into a movie that feels focused from beginning to end.
Leo Woodall stars as Nicky, a gifted piano tuner and musician whose hearing disability has shaped much of his life. Working alongside Harry Horowitz, played by Dustin Hoffman, Nicky spends his days tuning pianos in the homes of wealthy clients and music institutions. Their relationship forms the emotional backbone of the film. Hoffman and Woodall have fantastic chemistry together, and their dynamic feels genuine, warm, and lived-in. There’s an almost uncle-and-nephew quality to their relationship that makes every scene they share enjoyable.
When circumstances force Nicky into the orbit of a mob-connected security company, he discovers that his unique hearing abilities make him exceptionally skilled at cracking safes. What follows is a tense crime story that gradually pulls him deeper into a world he desperately wants to escape. Along the way, he develops a relationship with Ruthie, played by Havana Rose Liu, a talented pianist pursuing her own musical ambitions. The chemistry between the two leads is believable and natural, giving the film a strong romantic thread without distracting from the central story.
What impressed me most about Tuner is that it takes a relatively simple premise and executes it at an incredibly high level. The film isn’t trying to reinvent the crime genre or constantly surprise you with twists. Instead, it understands exactly what it is and focuses on doing those things exceptionally well. Yes, there are familiar crime-movie elements here—the protagonist who wants out, the one job too many, the criminal world refusing to let go—but they’re handled with confidence and precision.
A huge reason the film succeeds is Daniel Roher’s direction. His research into the world of piano tuning gives the movie a level of authenticity that elevates every scene. The details of that profession never feel gimmicky; they feel lived in and real. That attention to detail extends throughout the entire film.
The real standout, however, is the sound design. It’s nothing short of immaculate. Because the story is centered around a character with a hearing disability, the film constantly places the audience inside Nicky’s auditory experience. The sounds of piano tuning, safe-cracking, music, and silence all become storytelling tools. The sound design doesn’t just support the movie—it becomes a character in its own right. Combined with an excellent musical score, it creates a level of immersion that kept me invested from start to finish.
The performances across the board are excellent. Leo Woodall delivers a performance that genuinely surprised me, balancing vulnerability, intelligence, and tension throughout the film. Dustin Hoffman brings warmth and heart to every scene he’s in, while the supporting cast, including the mob characters, feel fleshed out rather than one-dimensional. Even when these characters are involved in criminal activity, the film finds humanity in them, which adds complexity to the story.
If I had to describe Tuner in one sentence, I’d call it a cocktail of Baby Driver, Rain Man, and Heat. It combines the musical sensibilities and energy of one, the unique talents of its protagonist from another, and the crime-thriller DNA of the third. That’s a combination that shouldn’t work as well as it does, but under Roher’s direction, it absolutely does.
Ultimately, Tuner is funny, tense, heartfelt, and incredibly well crafted. It’s a movie that knows exactly what it wants to be and never loses sight of that goal. Between the performances, the chemistry, the sound design, the music, and the confident direction, this is one of the year’s strongest films and a very exciting indication of what Daniel Roher can do as a narrative filmmaker.
If this is what he can accomplish with a relatively contained crime thriller, I’m even more excited to see what he does next on a larger scale. Tuner is a fantastic movie from start to finish and one I highly recommend.
Tuner = 87/100
