Tuner

WARNING: Not a movie for kids and teenagers

This movie left me stunned.  There were so many moments where I genuinely didn’t know what would happen at that moment and I love that a movie, despite the modern setting was able to pull me in like that and really get me invested in the character’s journey and the storyline.

The highlight, similar to The Drama was the score.  This movie had the rare ability to combine piano composition and the sound of unlocking a safe and combine it into something that elevates the suspense-fulness of the movie.  Rather than giving us a surface level perspective of the sounds/struggle that Niki has to go through.  It’s both insightful and painful at times.  However, unlike The Drama, the score helps give a deeper perspective into Niki’s life as how sound affect him compared to how we would interpret/take in those sounds.  I appreciated that Bates was able to elevate the score and have the audience be transported into the life of Nicky and what he goes through on a day to day basis with his hyperacusis.  At times, I will admit it can be grating to hear, but definitely important to understand Niki and hoe he views the world.

The relationship of Ruthie and Nicky was definitely a highlight.  Rather than showing us the easy route of love conquers all, it shows a struggle between the two.  While Ruthie struggles with her feelings towards Niki, Niki struggles with trying to take care of those he loves while also trying to provide for himself, which results in him pushing her away and end up missing a performance of hers.  The relationship was nice to see and we got to see the happiness that they got before everything went downhill and it was nice to see in non-Disney films.  It was genuine and they both were able to balance out each other.  However, I wish we got some resolution of what happened between them.  While things didn’t work out for them in the end, it would’ve been nice to see some resolution since the movie does build up the relationship and to end it with Niki giving a piano performance after years of not playing, while amazing and beautiful to see him play after years was satisfying, I wish we got some closure before the movie ended.

Another aspect the movie did well was the intensity/stakes and elevating those stakes so the audience can be on the journey with the characters. It would’ve been easier to go the easy route and have the shock value of violence/sex, they didn’t and when I thought the movie would go in one way, it took me by surprise and went a completely different route.  I love that they did this and only added some shock when necessary.  Now, will warn you that there are some strobe lights at the climax of the movie, so anyone who has issues with flashing lights/seizures should either wait till streaming or close their eyes during this scene. The one scene, if uncomfortable is Uri hurting Niki.  I won’t describe the scene or say since it would spoil the movie, however it’s jarring and the moment I saw it, it made me gasp and my stomach churned when seeing it and the fading to black, which was an excellent strategy as it makes the audience wonder what happens.

Only nitpick is in uri’s strategy.  While we see him as a mobster, his methods of trying to make Niki work didn’t make sense since he had to use his ears in order to unlock the safes.  In order to have someone do your bidding, the last thing you would do is hurt there asset and in this case, it was there ears.  All I could think was “not a smart strategy, buddy”. I wish we could’ve seen him be smarter in his decisions.  While he can be ruthless, manipulative, and charming, I wish the strategies Uri made was smarter, especially his final move in making Niki go with them.  However, we see how far his evilness goes when even his henchmen/coworkers beg him to stop.  Behind the smile is a devil in disguise and the feeling of the relationship Niki has with him is gone compared to the start.  Almost as if your dancing with the devil and when you try to back out, its too late and sometimes you don’t make it out alive.  Tuner is a cautionary tale of being careful of how you take care of those around you/yourself as it could be your potential doom.

This was a great movie and should be seen by any piano enthusiast or anyone who loves Dustin Hoffman as it had heart and was made with passion!