The premise of Fernando Camargo and Matheus Parizi’s The Tuner is promising, but the film gains momentum too late in its 15-minute running time, giving the impression that it best fits as the first chapter in a longer feature.
In the outer suburbs of São Paulo, Paulo follows his father from door-to-door unglamorously tuning pianos, a skill he taught himself as a child. Tired of his daily workplace, which his father promises will soon be his, Paulo awaits a letter from the Opera House in the hope of becoming a professional pianist himself.
With strong but slightly underdeveloped performances, The Tuner could easily have become a rags-to-riches tale, or instead have subverted the expectations of many modern film audiences. However the unexpectedly abrupt ending leaves the viewer unsatisfied. Sandra Corveloni as a comedic Opera House cleaner gives the film’s final moments a touch of pathos, but a nagging sense of ambiguity remains.
