TEHRAN- “Tuner,” a 2025 crime thriller film directed by Canadian filmmaker Daniel Roher, will be reviewed at the Arasbaran Cultural Center in Tehran on Sunday evening. 

Film critic Kourosh Jahed is set to attend a screening of the film followed by a review session.

“Tuner” combines the worlds of classical music and organized crime through the unusual story of a gifted piano tuner whose extraordinary sensitivity to sound turns him into an unlikely safecracker.

Written by Roher and Robert Ramsey, the film stars Leo Woodall as Niki White, alongside Havana Rose Liu, Dustin Hoffman, Lior Raz, Tovah Feldshuh and Jean Reno.

Niki is a young piano tuner and former musician who works as an apprentice to Harry Horowitz (Hoffman), a veteran tuner who was also a close friend of Niki’s late father. Niki’s career as a pianist was cut short by hyperacusis, a condition that makes ordinary sounds painfully intense. Although he is forced to protect his ears from noise, his heightened hearing gives him an unusual ability: he can detect the mechanisms inside safes and eventually learns how to open them.

Niki first discovers this talent after Harry forgets the combination to his own safe. What begins as a personal favor soon becomes an opportunity for easy money. While working at a wealthy client’s home, Niki unexpectedly encounters a group of Israeli thieves and demonstrates his safecracking ability. Their leader, Uri, sees his potential and offers him work.

At the same time, Niki develops a relationship with Ruthie, an ambitious young pianist and composer. His connection with her gradually brings him back into the musical world he was forced to abandon. However, when Harry suffers a heart attack and mounting medical expenses threaten his future, Niki accepts Uri’s offer and joins the criminal operation.

Working with Uri, Yoni and Benny, Niki uses his specialized hearing to break into the safes of wealthy homeowners. His involvement deepens when the group becomes entangled with Korean criminals seeking access to a cryptocurrency fortune worth more than $18 million.

Following Harry’s death, Niki attempts to distance himself from the criminal world, but Uri refuses to let him walk away. His refusal sets off a dangerous confrontation that eventually leaves Niki seriously injured and partially deaf.

The injury, however, changes Niki’s life in an unexpected way. No longer overwhelmed by ordinary sounds, he can finally exist without the ear protection that had defined much of his life. In the film’s emotional conclusion, he returns to the piano and performs again after years away from the instrument.

“Tuner” was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival’s 2025 Canada’s Top Ten list. Roher and Ramsey also won the Vancouver Film Critics Circle award for Best Screenplay for a Canadian Film, while Woodall received a nomination for Best Actor in a Canadian Film.

By bringing together music, crime and the sensory experience of its central character, “Tuner” offers a distinctive take on the crime thriller while placing its protagonist’s lost and rediscovered relationship with music at the heart of the story.

SAB/