{"id":28593,"date":"2025-02-03T00:41:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T05:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593"},"modified":"2025-02-03T00:41:53","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T05:41:53","slug":"sundance-film-festival-peter-hujars-day-is-a-surprisingly-interesting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593","title":{"rendered":"Sundance Film Festival: \u2018Peter Hujar\u2019s Day\u2019 is a Surprisingly Interesting Dramatization of a Rather Banal Conversation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a9Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival.<\/p>\n

In 1974, photographer Peter Hujar<\/a> sat down with his friend, writer Linda Rosenkrantz, to tell her everything he did the day before, part of a planned book by Rosenkrantz speaking with all her well-connected friends about their daily lives. The book didn\u2019t end up happening and apparently the tape of their conversation was lost too, but the recent discovery of a transcript of the recording led to the making of <\/span>Peter Hujar\u2019s Day<\/i><\/b>, a reenactment of that lengthy discussion about plenty of things and, more often than not, nothing at all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hujar (Ben Whishaw<\/a>) sits down facing Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall<\/a>), detailing everything he can remember about the preceding twenty-four hours. Among its highlights are a visit to Allen Ginsberg\u2019s home, where he considered whether or not to chime in when the eccentric poet mentioned certain people and add that he had previously photographed them, and not one but two naps. He\u2019s not entirely sure of all the specifics, like whether he kept his clothes on for one nap or then got dressed again when he woke up, and at certain moments, he goes back a little to add in something that he had forgotten, whether or not if it\u2019s of consequence.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is an intriguing experiment of how the mundane can become inherently interesting, and that\u2019s what does happen here. Rosenkrantz can\u2019t know before she speaks with Hujar and others whether they\u2019ll have anything worthwhile to share or if she\u2019ll have to forgo including him or someone else (ultimately, of course, the book didn\u2019t get published at all). Hujar notes early on in his monologue that it\u2019s possible that he\u2019s spent more time telling part of the story than the person he\u2019s referencing actually spent with him, and there are times at which he seems done with one particular thought and Rosenkrantz brings him back to where he stopped, seemingly to make sure that audiences are paying attention and think that it\u2019s worthwhile in case they\u2019ve allowed their minds to drift.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n

Writer-director Ira Sachs returns to Sundance with a remarkably different feature from his most recent effort shown at the festival, 2023\u2019s <\/span>Passages<\/i><\/b>, which also starred Whishaw. That film, which dealt with a complicated three-way relationship, was fully fiction and set in many locations with a handful of supporting players. This film features just two characters on screen, reading mostly from a script based in reality but adding considerable dramatic flourishes to ensure it remains engaging. They move around to different parts of the building and even outside on a few occasions, with Rosenkrantz\u2019s reliable tape recorder accompanying them at every turn.<\/span><\/p>\n

Loud operatic music blares at several times throughout this film, heightening the drama before fading away almost immediately. It\u2019s an unexplained choice that does interrupt the flow of Hujar\u2019s ramblings but serves to jolt audiences back to what\u2019s happening. Each interlude from Rosenkrantz is also quite welcome, making it so that Hujar isn\u2019t just talking to a wall and offering her own commentary on what he\u2019s sharing, some of which is familiar to her and some of which feels quite foreign and strange. This isn\u2019t just about Hujar\u2019s day, but it\u2019s a conversation between two friends where one does much more of the talking.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given that this film\u2019s script is based on a dialogue that actually happened from which only audio was recorded, it\u2019s ironic to think that, without the visual medium of film, it would be almost impossible to discern who was voicing these characters. Both Whishaw and Hall are English but put on seamless American accents to portray these people, giving them unmistakable personality and adding a great deal each time the camera chooses to focus on them, particularly when the other is talking, as their eyes move and they shift their seated positions. Hujar\u2019s day may not be all that spectacular or breathtaking, but this 76-minute dramatization is surprisingly interesting and rewarding, even if those watching have never heard of either protagonist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/b><\/p>\n

Check out more of Abe Friedtanzer\u2019s articles<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Peter Hujar\u2019s Day <\/i><\/b>makes its world premiere in the <\/span>Premieres section<\/span><\/a> at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/ins>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a9Courtesy of Sundance Film Festival. In 1974, photographer Peter Hujar sat down with his friend, writer Linda Rosenkrantz, to tell her everything he did the day before, part of a planned book by Rosenkrantz speaking with all her well-connected friends about their daily lives. The book didn\u2019t end up happening and apparently the tape of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":28594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20471,19],"tags":[25914,25913,25912,25911,643,25824,2235],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSundance Film Festival: \u2018Peter Hujar\u2019s Day\u2019 is a Surprisingly Interesting Dramatization of a Rather Banal Conversation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Peter Hujar's Day : Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall star in Ira Sachs' latest film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sundance Film Festival: \u2018Peter Hujar\u2019s Day\u2019 is a Surprisingly Interesting Dramatization of a Rather Banal Conversation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Peter Hujar's Day : Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall star in Ira Sachs' latest film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-03T05:41:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Peter_Hujars_Day-Still_1.jpg.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Abe Friedtanzer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/movieswithabe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Abe Friedtanzer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593\",\"name\":\"Sundance Film Festival: \u2018Peter Hujar\u2019s Day\u2019 is a Surprisingly Interesting Dramatization of a Rather Banal Conversation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Peter_Hujars_Day-Still_1.jpg.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-03T05:41:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-03T05:41:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6d4d1be5055fa0a21c6be5ee2b54ae10\"},\"description\":\"Peter Hujar's Day : Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall star in Ira Sachs' latest film premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=28593#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Peter_Hujars_Day-Still_1.jpg.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Peter_Hujars_Day-Still_1.jpg.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Ben Whishaw appears in Peter Hujar's Day by Ira Sachs, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. 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