Ira Sachs’ sublime new film is based on a tape recording that writer Linda Rosenkrantz made of her good friend photographer Peter Hujar, recounting his past day. It was in 1974 and the project of hers was never finished but a transcript of the conversation was found in Peter Hujar’s archives and Sachs decided to fashion it into a small, intimate movie. He also had the good fortune to get two sensational actors- Rebecca Hall and Ben Wishaw to play Linda and Peter.
Peter Hujar was an extraordinary artist as a photographer. Yes, he shot his downtown bohemian friends but he could also shoot a picture of a horse and make it sexy and mysterious.
In the film, Hujar relates the events of the day in a rather ironic, deadpan way, while chain smoking cigarettes. He recalls meeting with a woman in the morning who was picking up some photos of his for a foreign magazine. He treks to the Lower East Side to shoot Allen Ginsberg. Ginsberg proves to be difficult and resorts to stopping and chanting at intervals, and Hujar is frustrated that he can’t make any kind of connection with him. He talks to friends on the phone. He gets a short visit from his friend Glenn O’Brien (who is somehow starting a band “even though he can’t sing and doesn’t play an instrument”). Another friend comes over to use his shower and they have Chinese food together. He works in his darkroom. It’s the minutiae of his daily life.
Sachs shoots Rebecca Hall and Ben Wishaw lounging in the living room. They hang out on the roof. They dance to a 45. They have dinner together. Sometimes Sachs breaks the fourth wall to show the film crew. It’s an interesting experiment, and while I imagine it might be boring to some, I found it rather riveting. Like a snapshot back to the New York downtown art scene of the 70s. Besides, watching Rebecca Hall and Ben Wishaw together on screen is an infinite joy. As a film, it may be just a chamber piece. But what a lovely and poignant one.
Peter Hujar’s Day opens November 7 at The Film Forum (209 West Houston Street)
Love this piece. Wish I could slip into Film Forum and watch it on a rainy afternoon.