Review: ‘Peter Hujar’s Day,’ starring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall

October 23, 2025

by Carla Hay

“Peter Hujar’s Day”

Directed by Ira Sachs

Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, on December 19, 1974, the dramatic film “Peter Hujar’s Day” (based on a real-life audio-recorded interview) features an all-white cast of characters representing the middle-class.

Culture Clash: In an interview recorded on reel-to-reel tape, photographer Peter Hujar tells writer Linda Rosencrantz what he did the day before.

Culture Audience: “Peter Hujar’s Day” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, photographer Peter Hujar, and movies about people in New York City’s artistic scene in the 1970s.

“Peter Hujar’s Day” has a compelling depiction of a real-life 1974 interview between photographer Peter Hujar and writer Linda Rosenkrantz. It’s a ‘slice of life’ film about a conversation that might not hold everyone’s interest, even with good acting. Viewers who are most likely to enjoy the movie are those who want to get a re-enacted peek into a day in the life of a New York City-based portrait photographer who blurred the lines between mainstream and underground. (Hujar died of AIDS in 1987. He was 53.)

Written and directed by Ira Sachs, “Peter Hujar’s Day” had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival and made the rounds at other film festivals in 2025, such as the Berlin International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival and the Rome Film Festival. The movie takes place in only one location (the apartment building where Hujar lived in Manhattan’s East Village) and has only two people who are shown speaking in the entire movie: Peter Hujar (played by Ben Whishaw) and Linda Rosenkrantz (played by Rebecca Hall). For the purposes of this review, the real people will be referred to by their last names, while the characters in the movie will be referred to by their first names.

“Peter Hujar’s Day” clocks in at 76 minutes, which is the right amount of time for the type of conversation portrayed in the movie. Anything longer than 90 minutes for this movie would test the patience of most viewers, because a great deal of “Peter Hujar’s Day” consists of stream-of-consciousness rambling. “Peter Hujar’s Day” writer/director Sachs originally conceived the movie as a short film. And at times, it’s easy to wonder if “Peter Hujar’s Day” would’ve been better as a short film, as Peter tends to drone on and on about things that are quite trivial and would interest only a very specific and niche audience.

An opening caption explains that the interview took place on December 19, 1974, for a book that Rosenkrantz was writing but which never got published. She recorded the interview on a reel-to-reel tape. The dialogue in the movie is based on this audio recording, which wasn’t discovered until 2019.

“Peter Hujar’s Day” is made to look like this interview was filmed in 1974. The footage has a grainy Super 8mm quality and aspect ratio that would’ve been used in the mid-1970s. Peter and Linda talk mostly inside his apartment unit, but some of their conversation takes place on the roof of the apartment building, located above the Eden Theater. Fun fact: In 1974, Hujar was living and working in a loft where actor/singer Jackie Curtis (an occasional drag queen) used to live.

The interview is more like a casual conversation. Linda doesn’t have a prepared list of questions for this interview. Her follow-up questions are based on whatever Peter says. Peter is asked to describe what he did the day before. His response is a steady flow of comments and descriptions—sometimes wryly observant, sometimes gossipy, sometimes vulnerable.

At this point in his career, Hujar (whose specialty was portrait photos using black-and-white film) is getting assignments from mainstream publications, such as The New York Times and Elle, but he was still doing his own edgy photos that are displayed in galleries. Openly gay Hujar often featured homoeroticism in his photographs. Hujar’s work inspired the work of photographers David Wojnarowicz and Robert Mapplethorpe. Wojnarowicz was an ex-over of Hujar’s who became Hujar’s protégé.

In “Peter Hujar’s Day,” Peter admits he has a habit of name-dropping, although he dislikes it when other people name drop. He name drops writer Susan Sontag when he talks about someone he knows who wanted Max Kozloff (who was an editor at Artforum at the time) to write a book introduction. Peter says he told the person seeking Kozloff’s contact information: “I don’t know Max Kozloff. Why don’t you ask Susan Sontag?”

Peter also dishes some details about how famed poet Allen Ginsberg acted when Peter went to Ginsberg’s apartment to photograph Ginsberg for a New York Times feature article. Peter tells Linda that he was shocked that Ginsberg lived a dumpy apartment that looked like it belonged in a “run-down tenement,” linoleum floors and all. According to Peter, he and Ginsberg did not get off to a great start because Ginsberg didn’t know and didn’t want the photos to be portrait-styled.

After some back-and-forth arguing, where Peter says he told Ginsberg that The New York Times gave a non-negotiable assignment to take portrait photos, Ginsberg eventually relented and agreed to pose for portrait photos. According to Peter, Ginsberg relaxed a little during the photo session. During his conversation with Ginbserg, Peter said Ginsberg advised Peter that if Peter ever got to photograph writer William Burroughs, then Peter should give Burroughs oral sex, even though Ginsberg supposedly said that Burroughs preferred “WASP-y prep school boys.”

Peter’s surprise about Ginsberg’s living conditions is an example of how many celebrated artists of that era were not doing well financially. Peter gives insight into why, when he admits to Linda that he—like many artists—cannot be business-savvy at all. Peter says he often doesn’t keep track of how much he’s supposed to paid for assignments, or even if he’s been paid at all.

Peter also says it’s not uncommon for him to give his photos and negatives to a stranger who shows up at his apartment and says they’re from the media outlet that gave him the assignment, but Peter doesn’t verify who that person is when he hands over these items. He mentions this after saying that a girl from Elle is supposed to come over to his place to pick up some photos, and he wonders out loud what it would be like if she seduced him.

Even though Linda does not approach the interview as an intense interrogator, she doesn’t let Peter’s inconsistencies and contradictions slide. Throughout this interview, Peter occasionally admits that he what he’s saying might not be entirely true. He’s a raconteur who’s an unreliable narrator.

He also makes catty remarks about colleagues, such as saying that artist Ed Baynard has a tendency to be long-winded and is “insane” for how long Baynard keeps people on the phone. In another comment, he remarks that model Lauren Hutton is “beautiful” but “looks like a man.” In other comments, he speculates about who might be sleeping with whom in his community of New York queer artists who are getting international recognition.

Whishaw gives an impressive performance as Peter, who is quite the motormouth and who doesn’t know the meaning of “less is more” when talking about himself. Hall’s performance as Linda is much more measured and calmer, since Linda’s role is mainly to listen to Peter talk about whatever he wants. Aside from a few artsy interlude shots that look like Peter and Linda are posing for dream-like portraits, “Peter Hujar’s Day” is really a filmed conversation. Whether not a viewer will feel curious or checked-out of this conversation will depend entirely on a viewer’s regard for New York artists in the 1970s.

Janus Films and Sideshow will release “Peter Hujar’s Day” in select U.S. cinemas on November 7, 2025.