The Daily Beast
Black Bear Pictures Genre films are less about the originality of their elements than about the precision with which they’re assembled and executed, and Tuner puts them together with a virtuosity that mirrors that of its protagonist. A neo-noir starring Leo Woodall and the legendary Dustin Hoffman that doesn’t strike a single false note, Daniel Roher’s thriller (May 22, in theaters) is as good as crime cinema gets, and one of 2026’s biggest surprises—and undisputed highlights. With a jazziness typical of its dexterous touch, Tuner introduces NYC piano tuner Niki White (Woodall) as he hops from job to job with his employer, mentor, and surrogate father Harry Horowitz (Hoffman), with the latter’s amusing jibber-jabber about tuna fish, dementia, and inflammation serving as the soundtrack to their day-to-day toil. Whereas Harry is a boisterous, outgoing bundle of old-school Jewish energy and charm, Niki is soft-spoken and withdrawn, plying his trade with an unfussy, meticulous focus that’s aided by the earplugs (and bigger headphones) he always wears. Harry knew Niki’s dad and has taken him under his wing, and through their chitchat, Tuner dispenses snippets of their backstory, starting with the fact that Niki was once a musical prodigy and that he gave up the piano for his current, mundane vocation due to his debilitating, undefined medical “condition.” What is immediately apparent is that Harry adores Niki and that, though he’s far from demonstrative, the young man feels likewise about Harry and his wife Marla (Tovah Feldshuh), who over dinner chides her spouse for eating hamburgers, using excessive salt on his meal, and not wearing his hearing aids. The last of these infractions is waved away by Harry, who believes that, when it comes to music, hearing notes isn’t as important as feeling them. Read more at The Daily Beast.
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