It isn’t hard to find people who complain that “they don’t make movies for adults like they used to”. Regardless of the validity of that declinist point of view, the cinematic varietal that immediately comes to mind for me is well-told, small-scale crime thrillers. They scratch a part of my brain like no other. That’s why Tuner, the new film directed by Daniel Roher (who co-wrote it with Robert Ramsey), is such an early Summer Movie Season treat.

Niki White (Leo Woodall) developed hyperacusis—extreme sensitivity to sound—and only through intensive exposure therapy has he found a way to live life not constantly overwhelmed. A former child piano virtuoso, Niki possesses perfect pitch. The film keeps it tantalizingly unclear whether his disorder or something else drove him away from music. Whatever the cause, it’s undeniable he’s a natural apprentice for piano tuner Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman, his best work in nearly a decade). Harry knew Niki’s father, long deceased, so he and his wife, Marla (Tovah Feldshuh, just wonderful), have become something less than surrogate parents and more than surrogate piblings. It is a life, but the younger man clearly wants something different. Or something more, at least.

Soon he finds himself stumbling into two opportunities for that more, one personal, one professional. Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), a tightly wound music grad student, finds Niki a source of tremendous frustration when they first meet, but before long, antipathy becomes romance. Uri (Lior Raz, a great ice-water-in-the-veins baddie), the owner of a security company, has a side business: stealing items from his clients he’s sure they won’t miss, à la Jon Hamm in Your Friends and Neighbors. When Niki demonstrates his condition also makes him an adept safecracker, the shady businessman extends him a role in their illegal enterprise. While initially hesitant, a turn in Harry’s health brings a host of financial woes to the Horowitzes, forcing Niki’s hand.

After seeing him in multiple projects, I still don’t have a firm opinion on Woodall. After finding him solid in White Lotus Season 2 and great in One Day, I was excited to see what was next. Being miscast in Prime Target and outshone in Vladimir dimmed that enthusiasm some. Here, though, he’s back on top. Nearly a cipher at first, he keeps the character’s emotions so well-cloaked that it remains equally possible that the job might be a way to stay close to his former art or an act of masochism. As the film progresses, it becomes clear he operates interpersonally as he does with sound—deeply guarded against most, but feverishly embraces those that make it through his defenses.

His chemistry—romantic with Liu and familial with Hoffman and Feldshuh—is so authentic. As he and Liu connect and grow, each moment rings true. The latter relationship feels lived-in, as though walking in on people who have known each other for decades. Woodall is stoic without being dull, quiet in a way that draws an audience in. When that mask slips, the glimpses of him unprotected and vulnerable are so well-realized.

Beyond the acting, what makes Tuner so special is its depiction of sound. Not just present aurally but visually as well, it creates a fully immersive experience. The sound design by Maximilian Behrens and his team wisely simulates Niki’s world without replicating it. They don’t force us into the same situation because no one wants to see a movie that is so assaultive. However, they give us enough of a taste to make it clear what Niki deals with and how terrible it must feel when sound is accidentally or intentionally wielded against him. Composer Will Bates and music supervisor Steven Gizicki make for good auditory partners to Behrens’ work, weaving in orchestral motifs and familiar tunes at decibels that capture the gentle tone Niki needs to feel present.

Visually, Roher, cinematographer Lowell A. Meyer, and editor Greg O’Bryant punctuate key sounds with extreme close-ups delivered through rapid cuts. The click of a safe’s tumbler, the roar of a jet engine overhead, the bleat of an airhorn. Each time, they supplement the audio, reinforcing the impact on Niki’s senses and psyche.

All of it comes together in an epilogue that is simple and heartbreaking, topped with a last gasp of dark humor. There will be more exciting endings to movies this year. Louder ones. More joyful ones. Scarier ones. But there will be few that more perfectly match the tone of the film that’s led to it. Few that feel as inevitable or right as this.

And that’s Tuner at its core. I will see movies that are better, smarter, funnier, scarier, more exciting. But I doubt I’ll see many this fully realized, this wonderfully themselves from start to finish.

Tuner finds that flat E in theatres everywhere starting May 29.

Tuner Trailer: