Culture
Now Playing: ‘Tuner’ is a Thriller that Hits the Right Note
By: Gordon Briggs
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I’ve seen a lot of thrillers in my day, but I’ve never seen a thriller built around a piano tuner who becomes a successful thief. Tuner has all the characteristics of a thriller. What’s interesting is how, when it’s all said and done, the film is about a young man with a unique physical disability/talent who is just trying to do the right thing.
Niki’s meticulous piano-tuning skills lead him to discover an unexpected aptitude for cracking safes. When a gang of local thieves learns of his ability to crack safes, he is entangled in a web of lies and distorted sounds.
The movie lives or dies on Niki’s character. It’s not enough for him to simply give a good performance; we must understand his desperation and his feelings of being an impostor, and ultimately why he chose to be a thief to gain some control over his life. Before a single safe is cracked, we see him and his father going out on jobs and tuning pianos for the rich, and talking about their ambitions for their small family business. These scenes are crucial because they not only establish the important father-son dynamic between them, but they also help make you feel like real people you might actually meet in the world.
On a technical level, the film skillfully illustrates Niki’s particular fragility in relation to sound. Through several effective audio techniques, the film immerses the audience directly in Niki’s perspective. Sound designer Johnnie Burn often shifts the audio mix to match Niki’s emotional state.
As the world around him begins to close in, the movie amplifies its own audio distortions, making the assault on our ears the same way it assaults Niki’s. Furthermore, the film wisely turns everyday background noise into tension, making silences deeply meaningful and unsettling. The result is a film that works as an audio thriller and a character study of one man trying whatever he can to earn his daily bread. ★ ★ ★1/2