STORYLINE: Conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and Linda Rosenkrantz from 1974 sheds light on New York’s vibrant downtown art world and the introspective journey of an artist’s life. (IMDb)

   New York has been well documented during the course of cinematic history.  Woody Allen has done so multiple times, with films such as Manhattan (1979).  The 1989 rom com When Harry Met Sally set its story there.  Of course, the gangster film Goodfellas (1990) took place in New York.  Now the 2025 independent film, Peter Hujar’s Day is the most recent film to do so.

    Peter Hujar’s day is a conversation film.  Basically, the audience is just watching the characters carry on a conversation.  There are no action sequences, no jump scares, or any other types of ways to entertain rge audience beyond the main characters talking to each other.  I often sight Before Sunrise (1996) and it’s two sequels as the films that did this technique best.  Why?  Because the Before trilogy was the best to use this technique.

   That raises the question how did Peter Hujar’s Day use the technique? Conversation films depend heavily on the topic of conversation, and the characters discussing said topic.  

   I was not engaged  with the topic og conversation.  I found it to be gossip, and celebrity name dropping about celebrities I am not interested in.  The two central characters were polar opposites, from each other.  That is actually a good thing, in a film with extremely minimal

characters.  The problem here, was neither one were all that interesting. You add that together, you get a bland feature film.  

    Director Ira Sachs crafted 2014’s Love is Strange, which I found to be a beautiful movie.  His 2016 follow up Little Men, was another fine film, from Ira Sachs, that I really enjoyed.  There are films I have enjoyed from the director, and it’s ok not to love everything.  After all Steven Spielberg remade War of the Worlds (2005).

    While there are conversation films I enjoy I felt I wanted more from Peter Hujar’s Day.

   Until next time I will see you at the movies!