Tuner

Rating: ⭐ 4.27/5

Great film about a piano tuner with a hearing impairment (very sensitive ears). He gets dragged into a life of crime when he realises his hearing can be used to open mechanical safes, and his elderly uncle (I think?) gets sick and has to pay US healthcare. As most of these stories do, crime pays for a bit, but then costs much more in the end. It seems to end on a positive note (quite literally) when after being blasted by an air horn, his normal hearing is destroyed but he can now play the piano without over stimulating his ears.

This was very much a show about someone dealing with depression, but apart from one sentence midway through, this fact wasn’t shouted about and made overbearing. It showed itself through snippets of monotonous lifestyle, and how he interacts with most other people. I draw parralels to my own life where when things get difficult, it can be easier to slip into negative mindsets as a justification of a goal (money, friends, partner etc) that will make life easier. For a film about hearing imparements, and piano tuning/playing I expected good sound theatrics but this was amazing. Ambient sounds dramatically slipped between what the character vs others were hearing and loud ringing highlighted the disorientation after overexposure to loud noises.

PS. The extra 0.07 rating is mostly to annoy my friend who always complains about the limited rating options of other review sites.