Peter Hujar's Day
BUY AT:
See more details, packaging, or compare
Synopsis
A loving snapshot of a vanished New York, director Ira Sachs’s captivating cultural time capsule is a warm, witty, graceful re-creation of a real-life conversation that took place between photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall) in 1974. Peter Hujar’s Day eavesdrops on the two friends’ leisurely, affectionate hangout as Hujar recounts his previous day’s activities, offering insights into both his art and his everyday life. What emerges is a touching celebration of creativity, connection, and simply being present, made exceptionally vivid by Sachs’s cinematic flourishes and wonderfully tender performances from Whishaw and Hall, whose chemistry gives the film its heart and soul.
Picture 9/10
Through their Criterion Premieres line, Criterion presents Ira Sachs' Peter Hujar's Day on Blu-ray, delivering the film in its original 1.37:1 aspect ratio on a dual-layer disc in 1080p/24Hz high definition.
It's a new film, shot on 16mm, so my expectations were fairly high. Outside of a complete screw-up, this should look pristine, and I'm happy to say those expectations were met. The encode is quite nice, handling the inherent grain structure very well, even in brighter highlights and darker areas, with macroblocking never appearing to be an obvious issue, which all leads to sharp detail levels and excellent textures throughout.
Colors look fine, though the scheme is intentionally bland, consisting primarily of autumn hues and beiges, which admittedly suits the material well. Black levels are strong and shadow delineation remains sharp. Range and contrast are also surprisingly wide, leading to a nice sense of depth. A handful of marks pop up throughout, including small hairs and similar artifacts, though I assume these are intentional and, if anything, further work for the film's aesthetic.
In the end, it's a sharp-looking presentation with a nice film texture.
Peter Hujar's Day - Screen Captures
Audio 8/10
The 5.1 surround presentation (delivered in DTS-HD MA) felt like overkill at first, but it ultimately proves to be an effective mix. The film, of course, consists primarily of two characters sitting (or lying) around and talking, so the audio remains largely front-focused, with some notable panning and directionality between the three front speakers, on occasion at any rate. Dialogue sounds sharp and clear throughout, with excellent fidelity and range.
The city sounds drifting up from the streets below are effectively mixed through the surrounds, growing louder and intrusive during sequences set outside, and the surround channels get a chance to show off during these moments.
It's not going to set any sound systems on fire, of course, but it's very effective for what it sets out to do.
Extras 4/10
Criterion Premieres isn't known for loading releases up with special features, typically just porting over whatever was created for the film's showing on The Criterion Channel, usually an interview with the filmmaker from their Meet the Filmmakers series. This release ends up being loaded in comparison,, because not only do we get that interview and the film's trailer, but also a 29-minute making-of documentary entitled Images: Making "Peter Hujar's Day".
It's one of those fly-on-the-wall type deals, with a camera simply observing the production and capturing behind-the-scenes footage, including moments with actors Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall. We also get smaller, more mundane moments, like someone offering to do a bodega run and a discussion over whether warm Gatorade is acceptable (which it apparently is, so long as it's not Powerade).
Somewhat surprisingly, the documentary doesn't cover the lighting tests that director Ira Sachs discusses in his 14-minute Meet the Filmmakers interview. We do see footage from those tests in the interview itself, and they're particularly interesting because, as Sachs explains, they helped in planning the settings, edits, and camera positioning while figuring out how to shoot what is otherwise a very static "story." He also talks more about Hujar and the book on which the film is based, providing additional background and even explaining how one specific scene (where the two discuss Joan Crawford) came out of his own research and was not part something in the original book. It's brief but surprisingly in-depth, with Sachs also touching on his own background, something he also discusses in the interview included on Criterion's Blu-ray edition of The Delta.
The enclosed insert then features a brief essay on the film and its subject matter, written by Michael Koresky.
There's not a lot of material here, but, as I stated before, that's to be expected. Even so, this ends up being one of the more satisfying Premieres releases, and thankfully the supplements are worth the time.
Closing
A nice edition for the film, featuring a couple of worthwhile extras and a sharp presentation.
BUY AT:
