Parents' Guide to Tuner

Academy Award-winning documentarian Daniel Roher cracks into the world of narrative features with this simple, sympathetic crime drama, unlocking a sensory experience for viewers. It's not the first time that Roher used this approach: His documentary Blink followed a real family showing their children the beauty of the world before some of them lost their vision to a rare genetic disorder. Here, Roher has invented a sweet, introverted piano tuner whose musical gift has been sidelined due to the onset of a debilitating hearing condition, so he reluctantly turns to stealing to pay his mentor's medical bills. The plot is basic, but the character of Niki is likely to resonate with teens: He's stoic, wistful for romance, and unsure of who he is or where he's going, but he knows he's a good person who wants to help the people he loves. And Roher, whose attention to auditory detail is sublime, hits every note to create a harmonious cinematic concerto: the acting, the editing, the music, the locations, and definitely (definitely!) the sound design.

Admittedly, it can be hard to get excited about a movie because of its sound mixing, so let Tuner be a lesson in just how magnificent it can be. The genius is in the subtlety: The layering isn't "Look at me! Give me an award!" Rather, Niki's auditory fragility makes viewers aware of all the sounds that surround us in a day, and then the background noise gently rises to ask for our attention. The voice of a person passing Niki on the street. The sound of a car on the street, off camera. And perhaps the person behind us chewing popcorn. The onscreen experience melds with the viewing experience, all while keeping us completely immersed in a story that, while it isn't unlike others we've seen, is so spot-on that we must recognize Roher as a maestro of film.