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“Detective, what made you sure so quickly that Nazir Kahn was your man?”
“The mountain of evidence.”
This is one of the many heart-in-throat conversations from the electrifying new drama. JOE has caught some sneak peaks and we’re officially hooked. The show premiered on Sky Atlantic on the 1st September and to make it even better, all eight episodes are now available on Sky Box Sets so you can watch all episodes in one sitting if you wish.
We should probably warn ye ahead of time, this show is going to be damn near impossible not to binge on.
All in all it’s a very fortuitous time to be a TV fan. Viewers have never been savvier about the medium and programme makers have never had more freedom to tell challenging stories.
The latest success story from the states comes, unsurprisingly, from HBO. The network that spearheaded the template for modern drama with shows such as Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire and True Detective is back with a mini-series that sits comfortably among the aforementioned masterpieces.
If you’re a fan of The Wire and Making A Murderer than The Night Of was made with you in mind. A slow burning procedural, it follows a murder from the night it was committed to the trial.
The main creative team behind The Night Of are Richard Price and Steve Zallian. Price, a crime novelist, cut his teeth writing for a little TV show called The Wire. Zallian is the Academy Award winning screenwriter behind Schindler’s List and Gangs Of New York. This is his first foray into television and the tale the two men tell is as ground breaking and complex as any drama addict could hope for. Alongside the sadly deceased James Gandolfini (who was set to play the role now played by his friend John Turturro) the trio set out to make a compelling drama void of cliches and artifice.
Based on the BBC series Criminal Justice which followed the journey of a man accused of murder through the justice system, The Night Of takes the template of the British show to expose the numerous flaws in the American justice system.
The story of the show is as simple as it is chilling. Girls gets into boys cab. Boy and girl get high, play with knives and have sex. Boy wakes up later on with a gap in his memory. Unfortunately for Boy, Girl is now dead. Boy tries to run away but the law aren’t far behind.
The Boy in question is Naz, an honours student in the wrong place at the wrong time played by British actor Riz Ahmed.
The unlucky girl in this scenario is Andrea, a wealthy drug addict played by Sofia Black-D’Elia. A series of unfortunate events sees Naz deprived of his freedom with only ambulance chasing lawyer John Stone (John Turtorro) standing between him and life in prison without parole. The evidence is all circumstantial but it’s pretty damning against poor Naz.
The show is quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
The structure of the mini-series allows for an urgency and depth uncommon for traditional television. The show is at once unpredictable, heartbreaking and funny, with Turtorro exhibiting a detached sense of gallows humour that seems to be a necessary tool when defending murderers.
The Night Of features a transformative performance from Riz Ahmed as Naz, the unlucky student accused of murdering Andrea. As an actor, Ahmed’s name has become synonymous with quality projects.
Since his breakthrough performance in Chris Morris’s Four Lions as Omar, the leader of the dumbest terror cell in history, to his star supporting turn as Jake Gyllenhaal’s camera man in Nightcrawler, Ahmed is consistently proving himself as one of the best actors of his generation and The Night Of is his greatest performance to date.
Naz starts out as a doe eyed innocent who is thrown to the proverbial dogs in prison while awaiting trial. There, he begins a cautious friendship with Freddy (Wire star Michael K. Williams) while he changes himself mentally and physically in order to survive.
Turtorro’s turn as John Stone is another brilliant character from one of America’s favourite actors. There’s also excellent performances across the board from Amara Karan, Bill Camp and Jeannie Berlin, as well as an unforgettably unnerving score from Jeff Russo.
It’s methodical, deliberate and sometimes confusing. In this golden age of television it is the most valued of programmes, namely an entertainment for grown ups that’s not afraid to play to the top of it’s intelligence.
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