Peter Hujar’s Day
Back in the early 1970's, non-fiction writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) had the idea of interviewing various NYC artists to get an in-depth look at how they spent a typical 24 hour period. On December 19, 1974 she met with her friend, photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw), in her apartment and asked him to recount the day before from the moment he woke up until he went to bed. Rosenkrantz never did write that book, but when a typewritten transcript of the recording was found with Hujar's papers in the city's Morgan Library & Museum in 2019, she published it as "Peter Hujar's Day."
Laura's Review: B+
Within an economical 79 minute run time, writer/director Ira Sachs ("Keep the Lights On," "Passages") recreates not only the day Linda interviewed her friend, but a bygone New York City full of characters who Hujar interacted with, his recollections ranging from the mundane to the gossipy. There is also underlying subtext in how Hujar claims he accomplished little that day, then comes to realize how the minutiae of life conspired to fill it up, a very relatable moment.
Peter begins by telling Linda he didn't need an alarm clock the day before, as Elle's Jacqueline Mornay woke him, calling to arrange to pick up photographs he'd taken of Lauren Hutton, followed by a conversation with Susan Sontag in which she told him she wanted to see his show. Peeved at being woken before his usual late morning, he then went back to bed at 10:30, indicating that this was not to be interpreted as a nap, but a continuation of his broken sleep.
After actually rising for the day, Peter spent time connecting colleagues via phone before receiving a call from Ed Baynard, one he recreates with deadpan hilarity, concluding that 'you can't get off the phone with this guy - he's insane.' While negotiating with Allen Ginsberg for a cover story shoot, Ginsberg insistent he doesn't want a portrait, they chat about the Pentagon Papers. The number of people Hujar name drops, some generally well known, like Andy Warhol, others only known within the NY art circle of the time, is astonishing. He even discusses a legendary figure, Topaz Caucasian, who people believed real yet Hujar says is all made up. And because he and Linda were friends, the conversation is intimate with no protective barriers erected. As the day winds down, Hujar shows his vulnerability, suggesting disappointment in his work, then opining that his latest commercial work looks 'real' but his signature, blighted by a reluctant pen, is 'crappy.' And yet, there is a desire for stardom (Hujar's work went largely unappreciated during his lifetime, gaining recognition after his death from AIDS in 1987).
Whishaw, looking like one of the "Boys in the Band" with his side-parted brown mop of hair swooping across his forehead, convinces with a specific Jersey accent ('befoah you give her the pickchas'). Hall is lovely, an active listener naturally drawing her subject out. At one point Whishaw describes a scene to Hall and we can see the picture expressed in his eyes. The actors enjoy a tremendous ease together, just like old friends would.
Sachs keeps things visually interesting by having the duo move about the apartment, Peter lying propped up on a couch as Linda prepares toast in her open-plan kitchen, or the two heading to the roof for a cigarette break against the New York City skyline. He cuts away to Linda's reel to reel tape recorder running on a glass topped coffee table and imagines the two posing for a black and white Hujar-style photograph. At one point, Sachs depicts the two dancing together to Tennessee Joe's 'Hold Me Tight' in herky jerky style, like a 7th inning stretch. A dissolve helps collapse time, the sun setting outside painting everything with a beautiful glow, a curtain closing on this day.
With "Peter Hujar's Day," Sachs illustrates what two actors can do with material that flits from inside baseball to the banal and he's given them both the canvas and a frame to set them off.
Janus/Sideshow releases "Peter Hujar's Day" in select theaters on 11/7/25. Click here for theaters and play dates.
