By Mr. Will Wong
Filmed right here in Toronto, Academy Award winner Daniel Roher gets a full circle moment with his Thriller TUNER premiering at TIFF ’25. The Film centers on Niki White (Leo Wooddall), a once aspiring Pianist whose aspirations were curtailed as he developed a condition that made him sensitive to noise. Niki translates his skills unexpectedly, using his special abilities to hear, the help mobsters execute their heists being able to hear safe combinations. He meets a talented pianist in Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), though she has no awareness of this double life he heads.
Wooddall solidifies his standing as a certified leading man after wowing many of us in The White Lotus Season Two. He beautifully balances Niki‘s unreconciled failure together with an ambition to win Ruthie‘s heart, all while navigating his challenging condition that both helps him and harms him at once. Liu also delivers a tremendous performance as a woman all-in to secure her future as a professional pianist, her focus thwarted by this looming relationship with Niki. Our only complaint is an under-utilized Dustin Hoffman as Niki’s grandfather Harry.
Roher makes a successful transition to fictional storytelling, keeping us invested in Niki’s trouble and resilience. TUNER screens TIFF ’25 as follows:
Monday, September 8
VISA Screening Room at the Princess of Wales Theatre
Premium
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
2:45 pm
Tuesday, September 9
Scotiabank Theatre Toronto
Closed captions (CC),
Audio description (AD)
11:55 am
we don’t believe we’ve finally made it through the first weekend of TIFF, but make no mistake, we’re still reaching for the peak! tiff50 monday is expected to be the biggest day of the festival with both FRANKENSTEIN and THE SMASHING MACHINE set to bow.
some highlights from day four:
•kerry condon at tiff for train dreams
•dustin hoffman and leo woodall at tiff for tuner
•alyvia alyn lind at tiff for wayward
•toni collette at tiff for wayward
•sarah gadon at tiff for wayward
•paul mescal at tiff for hamnet
•june squibb at tiff for eleanor the great
•édgar ramirez at tiff for it would be night in caracas
•wagner moura at tiff for the secret agent
•angelina jolie at tiff for couture
•rami malek, richard e. grant, leo woodall (with meghann fahy), james vanderbilt at tiff for nuremberg
highlights:
angelina content:
nuremberg afterparty:
the team also was thrilled to visit the much-talked-about CRITERION CLOSET pop-up, which runs only through today! it was epic!
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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