“Tuner is a pitch perfect crime thriller that delivers on every note!”
There are smaller and more independent movies that end up becoming the best movies of the year. They’re the kinds of movies that we talk about during award season. Of course, I’m a big fan of Summer Blockbusters especially when there’s a new Star Wars movie coming out, but the movies that never get enough attention tend to have better stories. These are the ones that I love to praise the most. The movie I am talking about is Tuner with Dustin Hoffman and Leo Woodall. This has been one of my favorite movies of 2026. It’s a music thriller where the music is really the main character. I’ll explain further.
The story centers on a former piano child prodigy with a hearing problem but is a maestro at tuning pianos. He may not be able to play anymore, but he can hear every note with pitch perfect accuracy. That kind of talent also serves another purpose, he is an expert safe cracker. That’s not really a spoiler if you’ve watched the trailer, but it’s only part of the story. And as you can imagine being a safe cracker gets him into some trouble despite his good intentions.
This movie is really driven by great performances not only from the bad guys, but the subtle performances of Leo Woodall and Havana Rose Liu Who plays the main character’s love interest. Her character is a concert pianist and brilliant composer who has this very subtle chemistry with Leo’s character. The performances are not over the top, but slowly draw you in that will make you easily connect. And of course Dustin Hoffman is great. Even at 89 he can still light up the screen with his performance. However, the best thing about this movie despite it being a bit of a thriller and a crime movie is the fact that the music really is the main character. I’m a big fan of movie scores and the use of music to help drive a story. It’s easy to think that this movie would be filled with only classical music, but that’s only one aspect of how the music drives the movie. There is a perfect blending of classical, jazz, even Nina Simone that creates the rhythm of this story. I don’t think the story would be as interesting unless you have this music creating the rhythm and having that kind of music to play at the right moment. Everybody gives a wonderful performance, and I have to admit I think this is one of Leo’s best performances because, again, it’s subtle. He doesn’t try to do too much and you really feel for his character while also understanding why up takes up crime in order to save a friend financially.
My criticisms are far and few. There are some plot holes and not enough explanation that would help drive part of the story. I admit there’s some open-ended questions that I think would if answered, but it does not take away from the overall story especially the intensity. Without giving any spoilers, there is one safe cracking scene where it’s a near impossible job because he can’t hear anything. Plus, I feel like there’s a little criticism do at the end when he can recover a priceless artifact and there’s no explanation about what happened. They could have added two more minutes to the movie to help answer that question. However, the ending more than makes up for it. This film may not get a lot of attention, but it should. It is absolutely worth the price of a movie ticket. And I could listen to its score over and over and never be disappointed. The music arrangements are perfect. They are perfectly placed to help tell this story. And while it may seem that I’m going on and on about the music, it helps the pacing be good and you know me, I’m always complaining about pacing! It can make or break a movie. I highly recommend this movie and for me, it is definitely “nerd approved,” especially the music nerds!
