Movie No. 23 (2017): THE NIGHT OF

The Night Of (2016)
Director: Various directors
Cast: Riz Ahmed, John Turturro

This is a mini-series created by Richard Prince and Steve Zaillian. But, it 's still a movie, a very long one. The episodic treatment, of course, is inevitable. 

The story practically begins with the arrest of a Naz (Riz Ahmed), a student who is of Pakistani descent, suspected of the murder of the girl he had a one-night-stand stint with a few hours earlier. Then comes the eczema-riddled, opportunistic attorney (Jack Stone), who preys on small-time criminal offenders at just the right time. Stone is interested and, of course, gets involved in Naz's case.

The police procedural and the so-called due process that follows gives a glimpse of the complication in how criminal justice system works. The writing is effective in how it shows how this incident affects all the people that got entangled into it, including Naz family and friends, Stone and his colleagues and acquaintances, the dead girl's blood connection, the detective, police officers, prosecutors, etc. There is also a subtle touching on racism and hate crime. The suspense and mystery are sustained until the conclusion. The ending sends me chills just thinking about what transpired during the entire season of this series.

Rating: 4.0/4.0

Date seen: April 5, 2017