The Night Of (2016)

Directed by: Steven Zaillian, James Marsh | 456 minutes | crime, drama | Actors: John Turturro, Riz Ahmed, Bill Camp, Peyman Moaadi, Poorna Jagannathan, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Afton Williamson, Ben Shenkman, Ilya Kofman, Eric D. Hill Jr., Nate Young, Ariya Ghahramani, Riti Sachdeva, Geeta Citygirl Chopra, Syam M. Lafi, Sam Gilroy, Garrett Basch, Nicholas Zaillian, Steve Cirbus, Edwin Lugo, Esau Pritchett, JD Williams, Charlie Hudson III, Joshua Bitton

In his home state of New Jersey, flags on all government buildings flew at half-mast after his death, a Facebook page was started discussing that a street and a theater in his hometown should be named after him, and Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band wore their perform to him. James Gandolfini, who immortalized himself as Tony Soprano in the television series ‘The Sopranos’, died suddenly of a heart attack on June 19, 2013 in Rome. A few days later he was to receive an award on the Italian island of Sicily, but the Roman heat became too much for him. At the time of his death, Gandolfini was working on “The Night Of,” a miniseries for HBO, the television network that developed and broadcast “The Sopranos.” The series is based on the British ‘Criminal Justice’, which the BBC aired for two seasons in 2008 and 2009. Gandolfini would take on one of the lead roles and was involved in the series as a producer. After his death, HBO decided, out of respect for Gandolfini – who as Tony Soprano not only put the network on the map commercially, but in that capacity was also (partly) responsible for the rising popularity of television series – to continue the project. .

‘The Night Of’ (2016) was written by Richard Price (‘The Color of Money’ (1986) and the rock-solid series ‘The Wire’) and Steve Zaillian (Oscar winner for ‘Schindler’s List’, 1993; nominations for ‘Awakenings’ (1990), ‘Gangs of New York’ (2002) and ‘Moneyball’ (2011)). Zaillian and James Marsh, the man behind the critically acclaimed documentary ‘Man on Wire’ (2008) and the Stephen Hawking biopic ‘The Theory of Everything’ (2014), directed. After Gandolfini’s death, Robert DeNiro was in the picture for the lead role, but he saw no room in his agenda to record the series. In the end, John Turturro was cast. He plays John Stone, a somewhat shady lawyer with his heart in the right place. He’s not exactly a big shot; to get customers he rummages around police stations – in open sandals, because he has a serious form of eczema! – hoping for interesting things. One evening, he stumbles upon Nasir ‘Naz’ Khan (British actor Riz Ahmed), a student who has been arrested by the police for a traffic violation, but has since been linked to a much more serious case. While on his way to a party in his father’s (Peyman Moaadi) taxi, forgetting to turn on his off duty light, the beautiful Andrea Cornish (Sofia Black D’Elia) gets in. She wants to go to the beach, but in New York it’s a bit difficult. Because Naz finds her attractive, he decides to take her to the Hudson River, which is close to a beach. The two flirt and Naz decides to go home with her. There they used drugs – not something the good and naive student often does – and ended up in bed with each other. It’s not clear what happens next, but when Naz wakes up, he discovers that Andrea has been brutally murdered. Out of sheer panic, he flees, only to be arrested for a traffic violation. Carrying a bloodied knife and being seen by multiple eyewitnesses at the victim’s home, distraught Naz is soon linked to the murder. Detective Dennis Box (Bill Camp) is tasked with finding out exactly what happened, but things aren’t looking good for Naz.

In eight exciting parts of seventy minutes each, ‘The Night Of’ explains in detail how the police investigation is going. Parallel to this is Naz’s journey to prison on Riker’s Island, and his transformation from innocent naive with big brown Bambi eyes to prison-hardened, unfeeling cynic. Under the protection of Freddy Knight (Michael Kenneth Williams), a prisoner who has acquired the necessary privileges and is envied by the others, he manages to work his way up and command respect. It’s not necessarily the story being told that makes ‘The Night Of’ special – we see similar storylines in every episode of ‘Law and Order’ and similar series – it’s the way it’s told. Because the story is spread over eight long episodes, there is plenty of room for details and nuances. There is also room for atmosphere. In ‘The Night Of’ it is grim, sober and raw. The acting is very strong, especially from Turturro and Ahmed. The latter is credibly undergoing a complete transformation; the first is a richly developed character; an antihero that you immediately feel sympathy for.

A small point of criticism is that the almost 600 minutes of playing time would have offered quite a bit of room for some more backstory of the characters. For example, Naz’s parents (their Pakistani background offers enough clues on paper), but Stone’s ex-wife and son and Detective Box also deserved a backstory. The ending isn’t entirely satisfying either, but leaves room for a possible second series (which may be coming). ‘The Night Of’ is a compelling, oppressive and at times breathtaking miniseries that captivates from the first to the last minute. With strong acting and an atmosphere that grabs you by the throat.