Peter Hujar’s Day

In December 1974, American writer Linda Rosenkrantz interviewed her friend Peter Hujar in her New York apartment, requesting that the now-canonised photographer recount, in painstaking detail, his every activity from the previous day. Seemingly lost to time, this dialogue was revived in 2019 when a typewritten transcript was discovered among Hujar’s archives and now forms the basis for Ira Sachs’ intimate and rewarding chamber piece PETER HUJAR’S DAY. Sticking closely to the transcript, Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) languish in the gossipy particulars of New York’s intelligentsia—phone calls with Susan Sontag and Allen Ginsberg, squabbles with New York Times editors—while the tape recorder rolls on. They occasionally saunter into the kitchen for tea or smoke on the rooftop and fire escape, but the action is in the words, each one delivered like a gift. The room turns ochre and eventually dusky grey as the day comes to a close, with the tenor of the conversation becoming increasingly personal. Sachs stages this encounter as a resuscitation rather than a recitation, capturing the bohemian expressivity of Hujar’s portraiture with aplomb. (Saffron Maeve)

Ira Sachs: VAUDEVILLE (1992), LADY (1994, K), THE DELTA (1997), 10/26/00 (2000, K), FORTY SHADES OF BLUE (2005), MARRIED LIFE (2007), LAST ADDRESS (2010, K), KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (2012), LOVE IS STRANGE (2014), LITTLE MEN (2016), FRANKIE (2019), PASSAGES (2023)