I thought the opening episode of the new HBO limited series The Night Of, which Roger Ebert's website called Agatha Christie meets The Wire, was engrossing and compelling. Richard Price is a solid writer, having knocked out juicy realism before in scripts for solid films like Sea of Love, Color of Money & the Scorsese "Life's Lessons" segment of New York Stories, and Steven Zaillian, an even better writer, directs here with the same precision for detail he brought to the underrated A Civil Action (Travolta, Duvall).
Great subtle acting abounds, and a modern day Twin Peaks meets True Detective emerges. I've always been a big John Turturro fan, and his grizzled and weary performance here as the suspect's attorney just might end up being Emmy worthy (time will tell). Riz Ahmed, as the main protagonist, brings the same innocent, befuddled but smarter-than-you-think characterization to the mystery storyline here that he aced as Gyllenhaal's doomed side-kick in Nightcrawler, and we just can't stop watching, because every time we ever felt stupid, cornered or scared is echoed in his soft spoken mannerisms of trapped anguish.
I'm looking forward to watching the remaining 7 episodes every Sunday night at 9 on HBO.
