©Kitsune Pictures
If you are visiting Tokyo, you really should allow yourself more than twenty-hours and change to see the sights. However, finding a local to show you the city definitely helps. Sam did not originally plan his trip in such a way, but complications cut it short, just before a friend-of-a-friend agrees to serve as his nocturnal tour guide in director-screenwriter-editor Joshua Woodcock’s One Night in Tokyo, which releases this Friday on VOD.
Sam’s flight arrived at 1:30 PM, but his girlfriend Becca was not there to welcome him. When he finally finds his way to her apartment, she greets him in an aloof and distracted manner. She cannot spend time with him that night, but she booked a nearby hotel for him, much to his dismay. Obviously, Sam expected to pick back up as boyfriend and girlfriend, so feeling rejected, he moves up his return flight to 10:00 AM the next morning.
Apparently, his Japanese friend Jun also has plans this evening, but he sends his girlfriend Ayaka to show him a night on the town. If viewers have suspicions regarding Becca and Jun’s simultaneous unavailability, they catch on quicker than Sam. However, Ayaka had an inkling something might be amiss, so she manufactures a pretense to drop by Jun’s apartment.
©Kitsune Pictures
That is where they both catch their respective unfaithful lovers in a compromising situation. Ayaka does not yet understand the bond she shares with Sam. She never met Becca before and knows next to nothing about Sam. He does not speak Japanese and she knows little English. Nevertheless, smart phone translation programs help them commiserate. Slowly, they start getting to know and like each other—maybe even more, if they can get past all the angst from the way their long night together started.
Obviously, One Night in Tokyo builds on a familiar premise. For instance, it compares very directly with Emily Ting’s It’s Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong, in which another pair unusually goodlooking twentysomethings argue and flirt their way through the titular city by night. Yet, that film now feels a bit dated, considering how gravely personal liberties have been curtailed in Hong Kong since its release. Arguably, One Night in Tokyo might serve as its replacement in the hearts of cross-cultural romance fans.
Woodcock’s film also features a surprisingly complex, but genuinely charismatic breakout performance from Tokiko Kitagawa as Ayaka. She covers a much greater emotional range than Woodcock’s rom-com-ish set-up initially leads viewers to expect. Ayaka is a complicated character, who has yet to fully deal with more than her share of personal issues, which Kitagawa expresses with great sensitivity and conviction.
©Kitsune Pictures
Reza Emamiyeh counter-balances her nicely as Sam. It is a moody performance, but never annoyingly whiny. They play off each other quite well, which is fortunate, considering they almost entirely carry the film together.
Admittedly, Woodcock essentially approaches this ships-passing-in-the-night story in a largely conventional manner, but the intimate ambiance is quite distinctive. Serving as his own cinematographer, Woodcock vividly captures the rhythms of Tokyo-by-night. Throughout the film, the city looks quite beautiful (as well as remarkably safe and hospitable).
As the night progresses, Woodcock gives the audience periodic time-checks, emphasizing the finite nature of Sam’s encounter with Ayaka and further deepening the bittersweet vibe. One Night in Tokyo might be predictable, but it is appealingly stylish. The resulting film also heralds Kitagawa as a major new talent to look out for. Recommended for fans of late-night “date-night” dramas, One Night in Tokyo releases this Friday (2/14) on VOD.
Grade: B+
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Here’s the trailer of the film.