Tuner, A Sleeper Hit? Martin Short is Joy
Tuner opens on May 29. The main characters are Niki (Leo Woodall), a young piano tuner, and his mentor, Harry Horowitz, a very seasoned tuner (Dustin Hoffman, 88.) Both have problems: Horowitz is losing his hearing, and Niki has a rare condition that makes the slightest sounds bother him. Despite this, the pair are the best piano tuners in town. Tovah Feldshuh, 77, has a supporting role as Harry's wife.
Most of their clients are rich New Yorkers. Most clients never play their piano, and they treat their pianos like high-end furniture. Nonetheless, they have their pianos regularly tuned.
One day, Niki is on a job at an extravagant mansion. He hears a loud noise upstairs. He finds three guys with foreign accents trying to force their way into a safe. Their leader is Uri (played by Lior Raz, 54, an Israeli actor). Uri says they handle security for the same client who hired Niki. Niki takes their word and he puts his sensitive ear to the lock and quickly opens the safe (Uri is really hired to provide security. But not to steal!)
Very soon, Uri offers Niki a lot of money to open safes for him. Niki agrees — among other reasons — Harry has become very ill, and Niki wants to secretly pay Harry's sky-high medical bills.
Just before Harry becomes ill, Niki meets and falls in love with Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a very talented pianist and composer. Not long after, Niki wants to get out of stealing and complications arise.
I don't want to reveal all the things that happen to Niki. But here's two Jewish-related moments. Harry dies and Niki goes to Harry's shivah — and a Jewish composer hires Ruthie as his assistant. Then he notices Ruthie is wearing his grandmother's stolen watch (she was a Holocaust survivor).
Niki gave Ruthie the watch. He stole it not knowing who owned it.
Tuner played film festivals and got great reviews. The Variety review was a total rave. The reviewer said he wished that Dustin Hoffman had more scenes. But there is one charming scene, the critic said, in which Horowitz meets Ruthie (before he's ill) and he loves her musical talent.
The film was directed by Daniel Rorer, 32, and he co-wrote the film. Rorer was born and raised in Toronto. He previously wrote and directed two acclaimed documentary films. One was about The Band (2019), the famous rock band, and Navalny (2022), about Alexis Navalny, a famous Russian dissident. Navalny won the Oscar for best feature documentary film.
Martin Short
In January, Netflix began streaming Marty, Life is Short, a documentary about Martin Short, 76, the famous funny actor. I somehow didn't view it until last week. He's a truly funny man who has deftly coped with hard things, like the death of his smart and beautiful wife, Nancy Dolman. Cancer took her after 30 years of a great marriage. Perhaps he coped because “he is joy,†as one old friend described him. Â
Short is also a great friend of the Jewish people, and he has many close (famous) Jewish friends. These friends include film director Lawerence Kasdan, 77, and his wife, Meg Goldman. Kasdan directed this documentary and he appears, as do many friends, in Martin Shorthome movie excerpts in the documentary.
In almost the first scene, Short mentions he has done a Chabad telethon. I didn't know that, but it fits in with his menschlife. He knows that many people think he is Jewish — his comedic style fits, he says, a Jewish stereotype. It doesn't bother him.
But, to anyone who asks, he says his cultured parents were Irish. His father was born and raised in Ireland. I am not surprised that he became a comedian — historically, most North American comedians were Jews, Irish Catholics and African Americans.
Short was the youngest of five children. In the documentary, he says his siblings and his parents were funny people. It was a warm, loving home. He somehow coped when his mother died when he was just 15, and his father died when he was 20. He celebrates them in the film.
In home movies, and in documentary interviews, you realize that “everyone loves Marty.†These friends include Steve Martin; Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson; and Steven Spielberg, 79, and his wife, Kate Capshaw, 72.
In 2019, Short visited Israel for the first time. He emceed the bestowal of the $1 milllion Genesis Prize. Then he spoke to the Media Line, an Israeli publication. He talked about art, comedy and he condemned the rise of antisemitism. The interviewer recited to Short three famous Jews' quotes about Marty Short: Larry David (“The funniestâ€); Nora Ephron (“Simply the best personâ€); and Lorne Michaels (“Well-adjusted and niceâ€).
