Peter Hujar's Day
2025 - Directed by Ira Sachs. 76 minutes.
The film has a meta-atmosphere. For a film that attempts to re-create the textures of NYC in the 70's, it is very self aware of the limits and incapacity to do such justice. The film is mostly dialogue-based, presenting itself as a reproducing or staging a transcribed interview done on tape by Linda Rosenkrantz (portrayed by Rebecca Hall) that became lost to history - only to be discovered amongst the Hujar archives housed at the Morgan Library and published as transcription as Peter Hujar's Day from which this film was adapted from.. Early on, I really had high hopes but general insecurity whether I would enjoy Ira Sachs' film.
It took time for the lighting to warm up to me. I would say that the play with composition and lighting are one of the film's most unique attributes. As the day passes, the sun begins to set and rather than establishing proper lighting on the characters' body, they become silhouettes to the sky's natural colors.
The narrative could very well have been staged on a empty stage. Do we really need the furniture and objects in the film to stand out? The most intriguing object to me was the reel to reel tape recorder used to capture the audio for a the day-in-the-life of the artist project that was being attempted. I quite would like one.
That is where the vintage ends. I think the yellow pillow cases look too modern, in fact they might be the brand which my friend, A, who I pet-sit for uses - intricate floral patterns with color meant to fade through time. Even the landlord's special on the furnace heater looks to clean for the East Village in the 70's.
At Lincoln Centre, they have dedicated the waiting room at the Walter Reade Theater to exhibiting actual Peter Hujar photography. The portraits of Allen Ginsberg which are detailed in the film are on display. I found myself "ohm"ing alongside the Buddha-Ginsberg in lotus position. Hujar, played by Ben Whishaw, seemed overly concerned with money and legacy, but he also seemed detached, diplomatic, and even un-phased by being surrounded by so many creative elites. Having never seen any of Hujar's photography, watching the film first breathed air into the images.
Hujar's photographic portraits on display as contact sheets at Walter Reade range from Tuli Kupferberg (The Fugs) to Susan Sontag, whom Hujar seems to make visual a NYC scene that is often rendered into document as literal as turning events into text. In Hujar's photography displayed at Lincoln Center, there is an honesty in the subject. As far as the Ira Sachs' film, I think this honest transposes over. The honesty of the sun is an un-credited actor. Shots take advantage of the buttery warm tones of the sun from window or balcony shots, rooftop scenes, and also situated within sitting rooms and bedrooms. Sometimes the sun is a beam that starts at the actor's talking lips and rises to his eyes in a cut. There are intrusions of the production breaking the fourth wall, the audience sees boom-mics and wardrobe on site, before the dialogue begins and the image cuts closer.
Some of the shots are clearly artistic in the photographic portrait sense. Of course it is tough to re-create the energy of 1970's NYC but I think they succeeded to produce an experience. A day in NYC is a bit eternal anyways, remains the same over time. The film is mostly a dialogue between Hujar and Rosenkrantz which makes for a slow or durational film, which in this age of brainrot AI slop, is more than welcomed. The quality of light is real and the warm tones feel right. The actors' intimacy with each other also felt organic and gentle, it provided some charming moments such as an impromptu dance to records and produced a few notable one-liners. I would consider seeing it again, because why not.