Tuner

A piano tuner (Leo Woodall) with sensitive hearing discovers he has a talent for safe cracking. He starts work for an Israeli crime syndicate to pay for his mentor’s (Dustin Hoffmann) medical bills.

What starts as an amusing buddy comedy turns into a rom-com, then crime caper, then mutates into a full-blown quite harrowing thriller. It sounds tonally confused but somehow isn’t—there’s no swerving between styles here but more of a slow and horrid progression into a crime underworld.

It’s a great film, Woodall gives a quiet, powerful performance in contrast to Hoffmann’s charming louder-than-life character, and Havana Rose Liu provides a wonderful romantic interest. I like how their romance plays out, it’s awkward and not an instant spark but it does have a little tinge of Hollywood schmaltz in there.

I can’t say I walked out of the cinema thinking this was a sweet film, but it is a sweet film. It’s just that the final third kicks the shit out of its protagonist so hard that we kind of lose sight of that.

Some good writing combined with an offbeat edit and inventive direction make for an unusual crime thriller, well worth a look.