Takuya Kato's "The Day After Sunday" explores the unspoken tensions of marriage and parenthood, leaving audiences to ponder the choices that shape our lives.
A still from "The Day After Sunday," which premiered at the Busan International Film Festival in 2026.
Takuya Kato came to the Busan International Film Festival hoping to spark a conversation about love and its many shades, and it appears that the Japanese filmmaker has got his wish.
Following its world premiere at BIFF this past week, Kato's The Day After Sunday certainly got people talking—in cinemas, in cafés, and at a press conference that ended quite wonderfully with the filmmaker urging his audience, including the assembled media, to make up their own minds about the movie rather than look to him for easy answers.
"I wanted to create an ending that allows the audience to think about what would have happened if it were them. What choices would they have made?" said Kato.
A Relationship in Retreat
The Day After Sunday is a slow burn, telling the story of a couple (Haru Kuroki and Atsushi Hashimoto) who retreat to a Tokyo hotel, supposedly to discuss parenthood and their future.
But long silences stretch between them, and the camera angles at times make you feel as though you are intruding on their delicate space.
There is a chill in the air between them, one that permeates the hotel's sparse, minimalist interiors and even seems to seep into the cinema as the film screens. Such is Kato's success in capturing the mood of this piece.
"I think of this space as an inescapable space for my protagonists," explained the director. "And the architecture of this hotel is a very artificial space which influences them when expressing the mind and heart."
Kuroki and Hashimoto admitted to feeling exhausted by the restraint needed to portray a couple confronting the reality of a fading love but unable—or perhaps unwilling—to share their feelings. The tension between them is palpable, and it leaks into the audience.
For Hashimoto, the challenge lay in capturing the silences and unspoken thoughts between a couple grappling with marriage, parenthood, and the restrictions that pregnancy can bring.
"There needs to be a gap between thinking and speaking," he said, describing the difficulty of expressing so much through so little dialogue.
An Ending Without Answers
BIFF deputy director Karen Park, who hosted a conversation with the filmmaker and his stars, revealed that she had spoken to the jury for this year's main festival prize, for which The Day After Sunday has been nominated.
The jury members told her that a good movie is one that "raises more questions than it answers and allows for conversation." Park said she had much the same feeling while watching the film.
Park is not alone, with the movie's deliberate ambiguity lingering long after the curtain comes down. Kato also made the brave decision to leave The Day After Sunday open-ended. What happens to the characters next is anyone's guess and for Kuroki at least that is the perfect way to end the movie.
"I want the audience to experience the fear and anxiety of not knowing what might happen in this world as living humans," she said.
BIFF will announce the winners of its Competition section when the festival comes to a close on Thursday.
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Author: Mathew Scott