‘Tuner’ Review – Oscar-Winner Daniel Roher’s Incredible Narrative Feature Debut [TIFF 2025]

One of the biggest surprises out of the fall festival season has got to be Daniel Roher’s narrative feature debut Tuner. This is Roher’s second film after taking home the Best Documentary Feature prize from the 95th Academy Awards for Navalny. The story follows Niki White (Leo Woodall), a young piano tuner who uses his hyperactive hearing abilities to make some extra money cracking safes. 

Tuner seems far beyond your average narrative feature debut, especially considering Roher co-wrote the script alongside Robert Ramsey. It’s been clear that Roher knows how to run a filmmaking team, but going from Oscar-winning documentaries to a fun crime thriller like this shows insane range. The script is brilliant and balances a whimsical tone with intense moments throughout.

Unsurprisingly, the sound design in a movie about a guy with hyperactive ears is phenomenal. We hear most of the movie’s events through Niki’s ears, alternating between muted sound and overwhelming noise. Niki wears protective earplugs and over-ear headphones at all times to protect himself, so we go through the differences with him in different scenarios. 

Woodall has great chemistry with the other two main characters, Dustin Hoffman’s Harry and Havana Rose Liu’s Ruthie. Harry owns the piano tuning business and is functionally Niki’s father, and Ruthie is a piano student whom Niki meets and begins a relationship with. Hoffman is a classic older mentor who embarrasses Niki at every turn. His closeness with Niki is what sends him on this safe-cracking journey. He just wants to help Harry and his family from the outset.

Liu’s performance is particularly strong, bringing Niki back down to earth and giving him something more to strive for. Before they meet, he’s content with just riding out his days tuning pianos, but Ruthie gives him a reason to want more out of his life. It’s fascinating how one person can completely alter the trajectory of your life and reorganize your priorities overnight. 

Tuner brilliantly portrays how easy it can be to fall into a life of crime, or at a minimum, do something in a moral gray area. You start off doing something innocently, thinking it’s not really hurting anyone. Eventually, though, it spirals out of control and can take over your life. Little white lies to save someone from being hurt may be merciful for a while, but secrets and lies almost always come out and cause more harm than they would have had they been revealed at the time. Niki wants to help out people who have helped him his whole life. He wants to do nice things for his new girlfriend. These are noble pursuits, just gone about the wrong way. 

The film does lose steam down the stretch, becoming repetitive along the way. After the incredibly paced first act, the story gets a bit messy. It never quite comes to a halt, but you can tell the film is bogged down by the need to wrap things up. This isn’t enough to sour the film by any means, but it is noticeable. 

Tuner’s greatest strength is that it takes a very basic story about becoming a criminal, but it uses a unique entry point. Niki doesn’t have a mentor in the safe-cracking business, nor is he a former ne’er-do-well coming out of retirement. He’s simply a guy with unique abilities who finds himself in the right place at the right time (depending on how you look at it). This angle allows the film to stand out from similar stories over the past few years. Niki’s skills, combined with his initial Robin Hood-esque approach, make for a really interesting character. 

At just 32 years old, Daniel Roher has crafted one of the best fall festival gems in Tuner. He’s already established himself in the documentary space, and this film proves that he may be the most versatile young filmmaker we have.

Tuner held its Canadian Premiere as part of the Special Presentations section at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.

Director: Daniel Roher

Screenwriters: Daniel Roher, Robert Ramsey

Rated: NR

Runtime: 109m