Film reviews: Tuner is a smart, slow-burn thriller that sucks you in and doesn't let go
From left: Johannes Haukur Johannesson as Fisto and Camila Mendes as Teela from 'Masters of the Universe', Leo Woodall as Niki in 'Tuner', Richard E Grant as Sir Chauncey Savage in 'Savage House'
★★★★☆
These days it’s all about transferable skills. Tuner (15A) stars Leo Woodall as Niki White, once a promising concert pianist but now suffering from hyperacusis — hearing so sensitive it makes loud sounds painful — and just about scraping a living as a piano tuner under the tutelage of Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman), who is something of a father figure to Niki.
When Harry falls seriously ill and his wife Marla (Tovah Feldshuh) discovers that he has neglected to keep up their health insurance payments, Niki needs to make money fast. Which is when Niki discovers that his musical skills — perfect pitch, a delicate touch — give him an unexpected talent for cracking safes.
Mentored by the professional thief Uri (Lior Raz), Niki develops a lucrative sideline — but how long can he maintain his double-dealing as he tries to start a new life with music student Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu)?
Written by Robert Ramsey and Daniel Roher, with Roher directing, Tuner is an offbeat, character-driven heist movie with real heart.
There’s a freewheeling quality to the story that ensures we’re never really sure where the next twist will take us (music, we’re told, is all about ‘creating harmony out of chaos’), a quality amplified by an achingly cool jazz soundtrack dominated by Herbie Hancock (we even get a cameo from Hancock).
The performances are strong too, with Hoffman verging on zany as the feckless Harry, and Tovah Feldshuh quietly but effectively delivering the story’s moral heartbeat as the long-suffering Marla.
The real star, however, is Leo Woodall, who plays the sensitive and stoical Niki with an understated reserve that promises to explode at any moment.
Smart, emotionally intelligent and sharply scripted, Tuner is a slow-burn thriller that sucks you in from the start and never lets go.
★★★☆☆
Loosely adapted from the cartoon TV series from the 1980s, Masters of the Universe (12A) stars Nicholas Galitzine as Prince Adam, exiled from the planet Eternia and living in Oklahoma.
When the warrior Teela (Camila Mendes) arrives from Eternia to remind Adam of his destiny, the pair zip off back through space and time to confront Skeletor (Jared Leto), the evil entity who has enslaved the people of Eternia and reduced the once-idyllic planet to rubble and ash. The second live-action Masters of the Universe offering is a knowingly self-referential affair (we get a cameo from Dolph Lundgren, who played He-Man in the 1987 version) that is fully aware of its absurdities as Adam/He-Man and Skeletor do battle for the Sword of Power and the god-like power of Grayskull.
It’s all pleasantly ridiculous, with a good cast (Idris Elba and Alison Brie also co-star) headed up by Nicholas Galitzine’s deadpan take on the clichés of the archetypal muscle-bound hero.
★★★☆☆
Savage House (15A) stars Richard E Grant as Chauncey Savage, an 18th century rake and wastrel who married into the nobility by wooing Lady Savage (Claire Foy) and then squandered the family’s wealth.
When Lord Devonshire invites himself to stay in their crumbling old mansion, Chauncey grasps at the chance of social and financial redemption — but can he keep himself alive long enough to make the most of the opportunity?
Written and directed by Peter Glanz, Savage House is the antithesis of : Steeped in blood, animal faeces, the pox, and gangrene, it’s a darkly lit portrait (note the Caravaggio reference) of genteel poverty and grim despair that tries to blend gritty reality with pantomime flourishes.
The performances are terrific — Richard E Grant was born to play the ‘insolent Welsh upstart’ Chauncey, Claire Foy is lively as the unheard voice of reason, and Jack Farthing and Kíla Lord Cassidy are good fun as the servants plotting their employers’ murder — but the script is wildly overwritten, and the meandering story is never quite sure of exactly what it wants to satirise.
- All theatrical releases
