Overview
- Tuner opened in limited release on May 22 and is scheduled to expand nationwide on May 29, and early critics have given largely positive reviews following Telluride and Toronto festival screenings.
- Director Daniel Roher says the idea sprang from a post‑Oscar creative slump after Navalny and a chance meeting with a Los Angeles piano tuner that inspired his first narrative screenplay.
- The film centers on Niki, a piano tuner who has hyperacusis, a condition that makes everyday sounds painful but sharpens his ear in ways the story uses to show how his skill becomes useful for a string of safe‑cracking jobs.
- Reviewers single out Leo Woodall’s restrained lead turn and Dustin Hoffman’s mentor role, and reporting notes that Woodall and co‑star Havana Rose Liu trained for months to play and tune pianos convincingly.
- Sound designer Johnnie Burn and the film’s mix are widely credited for making audio a storytelling device, a technical choice that critics say helps Roher translate the protagonist’s inner world and broaden the movie’s appeal.