Leo Woodall stars as Niki White, a child piano prodigy who gave up playing when he was diagnosed with Hyperacusis, an increased sensitivity to sound and a low tolerance for environmental noise. He now works with Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) as a piano tuner. He discovers, by chance, that his condition gives him an ability for cracking safes which results in him getting involved with a dangerous criminal gang.
I found the depiction of Niki’s life and his interactions with Harry utterly fascinating. The crime element to the story provided conflict and narrative drive, but with both Woodall and Hoffman on great form, I could have watched 100 minutes of them going about their business.
Having said that, director Daniel Roher does deliver some serious jeopardy as Niki tries to get himself out of danger and save his relationship with Ruthie, played by the excellent Havana Rose Liu. In fact, Roher and co-writer Robert Ramsey manage to pull off mixing a rom com with a buddy movie and crime caper to great and charming effect. This is old fashioned, quality, film making, in stark contrast to another of this week’s releases, Backrooms.
Rating: 8 out of 10