Peter Hujar's Day

Peter Hujar's Day attempts to dive into the life of a photographer, but it quickly becomes a tedious exercise in dialogue-heavy scenes. The film dwells on conversations about people and connections that viewers have no context for, making it hard to stay engaged. Despite the potential for showcasing the creative process, the lack of visual storytelling leaves the movie feeling flat. The slow pacing and excessive name-dropping make it feel more like eavesdropping on an unrelatable conversation than an engaging film. I struggled to stay focused and even checked my phone which I never do. A missed opportunity.

Watched at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Ira Sachs is an interesting indie filmmaker who explored about humane individuals and the characters involving around life. With this small scale joint, despite being one of his weaker works, the dialogue and strong performances from Rebecca Hall and Ben Whishaw manages to make a dialogue filled poetic engagement for a story.

Examining on the life of Peter Hujar, the simple scale setting, narrative and direction offers a good glimpse of the past. As if we are witnessing a conversation that isn't seen much but through the lens of the past to now. With solid camerawork and production, Hall and Whishaw have great dynamics between their dialogue and personalities which makes them interesting to observe. Despite its short runtime, the pacing does end up somewhat feeling tedious towards it middle act and Sachs seems to lose a little of his sense and approach on certain aspects, especially with how it ends.

Otherwise, Sachs continues to show his talents for the indie works of filmmaking.