Of all the ways a film can fail, the most disappointing is when script, execution and tone show great promise during the first two acts...
...and then everything goes to hell during the third act, leaving viewers unsatisfied, and with an expression of bewildered “what the heck?”
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| Upon arrival at each client's home, Harry (Dustin Hoffman) does all the talking and glad-handing, while the genial and mostly silent Niki (Leo Woodall) focuses on tuning an often unloved piano. |
Until the final half hour, anyway.
Niki White (Leo Woodall) and long-time New York City piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) are introduced during an amusing montage of their various assignments, mostly for wealthy clients. Harry, once a close friend of Niki’s late father, has become absent-minded, and is losing his hearing.
Niki’s initial position as apprentice has blossomed into something much closer to a family bond; Harry’s wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh, marvelous as always) dotes on the young man, as does Harry.
At work, Harry and Niki are an amusing Mutt ’n’ Jeff pair, with the former’s easygoing manner and motor-mouthed, often off-topic chatter wholly at odds with the younger man’s cheerful patience, frequently rolled eyes, and focused, measured responses. Harry always dresses “nicely,” although his clothes appear several styles out of date; Niki favors dark jumpsuits. We get the impression that his wardrobe — and lifestyle — are simple and minimal.
Harry is a longtime jazz aficionado, and frequently regales Niki with back-in-the-day encounters with cats such as Herbie Hancock, who gave Harry the amusing nickname — “Tuner Fish” — by which he’s often greeted. Niki takes such stories with a dubious grain of salt.
Further in that vein, Will Bates’ jazz-inflected original score often is interrupted by snatches of familiar tunes by Dave Brubeck, Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Nina Simone and several others.
Hoffman is a hoot in this role, his manner repeatedly shifting between impish, impatient and nostalgic, and back again. He effortlessly steals focus, although Woodall possesses plenty of his own quiet charm (amply displayed in his role as the hunky park ranger, in last year’s Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy).
Niki always wears headphones, which partly conceal odd-looking devices placed directly into his ears. He suffers from severe hyperacusis: an increased sensitivity to sound, with a very low threshold for environmental noise. The headphones protect him from everything ranging from police sirens and street jackhammers, to kitchen blenders and passing jets.
When at work, he requires absolute silence, or the nearest thing to it. But Niki also has perfect pitch, a phenomenal memory for everything he hears and sees, and is a genius piano tuner: a job perfectly suited to his auditory limitations.
When Harry loses his hearing aids one day, and can’t remember the combination of the small family safe containing his spare pair, Niki drags the metal cube home and — learning by doing — applies his heightened hearing to the falling tumblers.
And opens it.
Niki’s subsequent assignment at the Shafitz Hall Music Conservatory interrupts a rehearsal session by ambitious student pianist/composer Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu). Clearly vexed, she challenges his listening skills, and — despite herself — can’t help being impressed by the results. Even so, their parting is prickly.
Her attitude changes a few days later, when a plumbing crisis in her apartment damages her beloved 1930s Bosendorfer piano. She’s desperate, and relieved by the success of Niki’s rescue operation, even though she continues to tease him about his meticulous insistence on note-for-note perfection.
“Tuning a piano,” he gently insists, “is like creating harmony out of chaos.”
At this point, Niki and Ruthie obviously will become An Item.
Meanwhile...
...one of Harry’s other wealthy clients requests Niki’s presence in the evening, when the otherwise bustling mansion will be empty and quiet. As he begins to work, he’s distracted by some incredibly loud thumping and industrial sounds from somewhere upstairs. Tracing the noise to a bedroom, Niki stumbles upon three Israeli burglars — Uri (Lior Raz), Yoni (Gil Cohen) and Benny (Nissan Sakira) — trying to break into a safe.
Raz makes Uri a calm, placating leader: quick to smile, and adept at defusing an awkward situation. Cohen’s Yoni feels more dangerous and predatory, while Sakira’s Benny seems a useless man-child, and the frequent butt of comments from his two friends.
The deliciously ironic detail: Uri runs the security firm that handles this and numerous other wealthy homes. It’s a foolproof scam, since this grants them easy access when they know a given home is empty. On top of which, as Uri explains, they’ve never been caught, because they carefully practice the “law of diminishing marginal utility” ... which is to say, the more people have, the less they notice if a few small things go missing.
(That “law” will reappear later, so pay attention.)
Niki accepts this at face value, wisely choosing not to appear judgmental. But since he wants to get back to work, he offers to open the safe for them ... and does so, impressively quickly. He then returns downstairs, to the piano. When the others leave, Uri rewards Niki with a small pile of cash, and leaves his business card: “If you ever want to make some real money...”
Sadly, that moment comes fairly quickly.
Niki’s life quickly becomes complicated, juggling piano clients with both Ruthie and illegal late-night activities. Despite the latter, Roher’s approach remains mildly playful, and the developing bond between Niki and Ruthie is sweet; Woodall and Liu share palpable chemistry.
But everything then shifts in the blink of an eye. The engaging character development is abandoned, and the story charges into unexpectedly nasty and mean-spirited thriller territory. The otherwise carefully plotted narrative also becomes sloppy, in part due to a ludicrous coincidence.
Instead of smiling and anticipating some sort of clever resolution, we’re shocked and annoyed. On top of which, Roher and Ramsey “conclude” their story with a thoroughly unsatisfying non-ending.
Phooey.
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