One Night in Tokyo is a Drama/Romance told in English and Japanese and filmed in Tokyo, Japan. Watch for it to be available for viewing on February 14th, 2025 on digital VOD. Written and directed by Joshua Woodcock, it stars Reza Emamiyeh and Tokiko Kitagawa with original music by Topher Horn.
This is the story of Sam (Reza Emamiyeh), an Iranian American, who steps off the plane in Tokyo, Japan looking for his expat girlfriend, Becca (Cailee Oliver) who he is planning to visit for a week. She isn’t there to pick him up. When he finally finds his way to her apartment, he learns that she is no longer his girlfriend, and is stunned. His plan for a one-week stay is not making sense and he books a flight the next day leaving him one night in Tokyo. He tries to connect with his Japanese friend who is inexplicably busy but sends him off with his girlfriend Ayaka (Tokiko Kitagawa ), who reluctantly takes him with her to eat with her friends. One of the friends explains what is going on in English. Later, when Ayaka also finds her boyfriend unfaithful she and Sam spend the night trying to drown their sorrows. The cinematography is beautiful, the characters are convincing and compelling. And, it is the mesmerizing views of the streets of Tokyo and the music that hold the story together.
Remarkably, this film was shot during seven days in Tokyo as Joshua Woodcock who wrote and directed the film worked with a skeleton crew. This is his debut film and embodies a cinematic approach to cinematic storytelling that maximizes production value with a modest budget.
Topher Horn, composer/producer created the music for this sweet love story. He was guided by the Japanese concepts of Ma, a pause in time; an interval of emptiness in space, and Notan, the play and placement of light and dark. Knowing his score needed to be impacted by a multitude of cultures present in the film (Iranian instrumentation, French sensibilities, Silent film era jazz, etc.) he ultimately decided to use jazzy piano chords paired with an unconventional choice—a mandolin—which evokes the Iranian barbat as a nod to lead actor Ezra Emamiyeh’s Iranian heritage. These elements were then woven together with lush piano waltzes that incorporate Japanese scales and harmonies.
Topher Horn generously agreed to answer some questions by Splash Magazines Worldwide about his contribution to the movie.
Interview with Topher Horn- February 4, 2025
How did you come to write the music for “One Night in Tokyo”? I’ve been fortunate to work with the director, Joshua Woodcock, a number of
projects before this one. We met while playing in bands and recording in Detroit
more than ten years ago. He called me with the idea for a short set in Japan and
we started talking about synths and electronic music. Then something got into
him and he wanted to flesh it out into a feature and I’m so glad he did. The
musical direction evolved a lot from where we started and grew to be more
organic than electronic.
You have written music for television shows, and short films, and advertisements for
brands like Meta, Coca-Cola, BMW, and Audi. Is this the first full length film you have
worked on?
It is. First of many, I hope!
Is there a significant difference in the way you approached creating music for this film and
other work you have done?
Yes—the scale of a feature is so different from a short or ads. Ads are more like
fun little puzzles to solve, musically speaking: there is a musical goal and pretty
strict parameters for what can be done to achieve it. Shorts offer more room for
experimentation and expression than features, but still feel relatively small and
manageable. Working with a feature means a lot of film, story, dialogue, and
music to consider. The arc is more important than in shorter formats in the sense
that it is nice if the music can pull disparate parts of the narrative together across
spans of time in the film.
As I watched the film, I noted the way the music pulled the story together. I was also
aware of the very different rhythms and intonations in the alternating English and
Japanese spoken word. I wondered if this was, in any way, reflected in the music.
That’s a really interesting perspective. Josh and I talked a lot in the beginning
about having a jazz score in the vein of some of our favorite French new wave
films that inspired aspects of this production. The tricky part was finding the right
size of ensemble to fit this film—it’s pretty intimate. Musically I wanted to highlight
the similarities and differences between American and Japanese expressions of
Jazz, though they don’t necessarily tie in one-to-one with the characters and their
countries of origin. I also wanted to bring in something to reflect Sam, one of the
lead characters, being Iranian American. There’s a beautiful Persian instrument
called a barat that is plucked sort of like a guitar. The closest instrument readily
available in the US is a mandolin, so I used that to add depth to Sam’s themes.
Did you spend any time in Japan?
I have spent time in Japan before (and loved it) but I wasn’t at the shoot. Our on-
the-ground team was kept small to be agile moving around the many locations. I
was present for some rehearsals and saw the casting videos and so on, and
while it was hard to miss out on being there for the shoot, I was elated to receive
clips and photos back home in New York of Josh’s vision we had spent so much
time imagining coming to life.
Does the music connect more to the perceived emotions or the action?
Initially I thought the score would pertain more to action or setting but in the end it
made much more sense follow the emotional ebb and flow of the film. Between
what we see, hear, and can gather from subtitles, there’s a great outline of what’s
happening emotionally. With music I didn’t want to lay it on too thick or misdirect
but rather add color to what was there. There are a couple exceptions to this
which are the brief chase scenes where the music really follows the action.
Is there anything you would like to share with Splash Magazine Worldwide readers about
your role in the movie?
I’m so grateful I had the opportunity to work on this and meet many of the cast
and crew in person at festivals. The leads, Tokiko Kitagawa and Reza
Emamiyeh, delivered incredible performances that were so fun to watch and
respond to musically.
Thank you so much for your time.
Photos are provided by Mitch Swan
Splash Magazines
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