Peter Hujar's Day

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Alan W Re-enacting a re-discovered transcript of a lost interview by the famously "nonfiction fiction" writer Linda Rosenkrantz of her close friend, photographer Peter Hujar in 1974, Ira Sachs film poses a challenging question: how many different ways can he find to shoot two people just talking to each other in an apartment? A simple concept, authentically executed, resulting in an intimate and theatrical indie film that's narratively stagnant but thankfully never entirely dull, mainly due to a pair of captivating performances by Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall as he reflects and recounts in details a day in Hujar's life. This ensuing conversation, littered with name drops of famous (Susan Sontag, Alan Ginsberg) and less famous (Vince Aletti, Topaz Caucasian) people alike, acts in turn as a snapshot of what New York Village life is like at that time. While Whishaw leans into Hujar's very specific New York accent, Sachs has his deliberately scratched for nostalgic effect 16mm film to underline the era this film is depicting. Technically, he throws every camera trick and the kitchen sink into the film. The deliberately mismatched editing can feel almost discombobulating and the highly staged visuals are not unlike a photograph. A regimented and intentionally artistic experiment for the filmmaker and an equally challenging experience for its audience, this does have an air of artistic temperament which borders on pretentiousness and some will find this mundane and pointless, so this isn't a film for everyone for sure. Especially, if like me, you do not know anything about the two real-life characters, the film can feel unmoored and context-less, so thank god for its brisk 75mins runtime, which just about made it tolerable. Perhaps, it's conceivably better received as a piece of video art about memory, the passing of time and the mundanity of life. Rated 2.5/5 Stars •  Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/20/25 Full Review David S If Ira Sachs thought he could replicate the format of MY DINNER WITH ANDRÉ (one long conversation for an hour and a half), and sustain the audience's attention, he was very mistaken. This is a huge snoozefest nothingburger. People were open-mouth sleeping in the theater. Having Peter Hujar recount the banal minutiae of his previous day to an indulgent and adoring journalist and her tape recorder does not a film make. What he talks about is utterly meaningless and contains no narrative power or larger meaning. "I called so-and-so but he wasn't in so I didn't leave a message. Then I developed 8 rolls of film. Then I ate a sandwich." All the while his mesmerized f*g hag friend/journalist asks equally meaningless questions like "Why didn't you leave a message" while smirking knowingly. An hour and a half of this meaningless dialogue. Guess what? Most likely Hujar thought it was meaningless too! I suspect he thought the interview was an in-joke of contrived banality. Like most postmodern art. Critics who have called this a "masterpiece" are to be laughed at. They must really fear being ostracized by the Indie Film Critics mafia and their consensus opinionating. Save yourself $20 and an hour 1/2 if your life and SKIP. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 11/16/25 Full Review George B I like Ira Sachs. And I like Ben Wishaw. (Not familiar with Rebecca Hall.) But this movie was awful. Boring. Very boring. Just Peter Hujar recounting his day and name-dropping. Couldn't understand half of Rebecca Hall's dialogue -- soft and mumbly. The only "good" thing about the movie is that it wasn't any longer. Seventy-five minutes of this was dull enough. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 11/16/25 Full Review Read all reviews

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