Peter Hujar’s Day – Film Review

Director – Ira Sachs
Writers – Ira Sachs, Linda Rosenkranz
Stars – Rebecca Hall, Ben Whishaw

At the start of the film, we are told of an art project that writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) planned in 1974. It was a series of interviews with different people involved in the arts. The aim was to discuss their daily lives and to give an insight into their artistic process. While the project never came to fruition, one of the interviews remained in the form of a transcript found in the estate of photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw). This film uses this text to recreate the interview in something close to the original form.

Peter Hujar was a photographer who was known for his black-and-white portraits, often of people involved in the arts. He died in 1987 of AIDS related illness. Although not a major figure in his lifetime, his work has grown in popularity since his death.

As the film aims to recreate the interview, it takes the form of two people sitting in a room, with a free-wheeling Hujar talking, with occasional prompts and queries from Rosenkrantz. A reel-to-reel recorder sits on the table between them, capturing the details. We see the decor of the room and the furniture of the period.

The piece is quite cerebral and static in nature. Rebecca Hall’s Rosenkrantz is there as a presence throughout, but only to urge the photographer on. Ben Whishaw is impressive in the role of Hujar, giving the elusive and pragmatic photographer some depth and substance. The 70’s art scene in New York seems a distant memory, and it is unlikely we’ll see this Bohemian culture in a major city in our current times. This film helps capture a touch of this beatnik culture, along with its unconventional views and avant-garde lifestyles of the time.