What It’s About
In 1974, journalist/arts chronicler Linda Rosenkrantz (Hall) sat down with her friend, photographer Peter Hujar (Whishaw), in her New York City apartment. Turning on a tape recorder, she asks Peter simply to talk about his daily activities. The revealing conversation that follows goes way beyond the quotidian.
Why We Love It
To call this a narrative drama is misleading; it’s more like a recreated documentary. The real Rosenkrantz’s project to examine the lives and patterns of working artists never came to fruition, but director Sachs found the transcript of this particular interview in a Paris bookshop. Working with Rosenkrantz (Hujar died of AIDS in 1987), he adapted it to script form. Whishaw and Hall (both British actors playing Americans) make the most of the material; with Sachs’ restrained, stripped down direction, this fascinating experiment becomes an actors’ showcase. Never wearing out its welcome at a trim 76 minutes, “Peter Hujar’s Day” leaves a nostalgic, wistful aftertaste as it brings back a far-off time when struggling artists could afford to live in Manhattan. By all means, seize this “Day”.