Greetings again from the darkness. “How was your day?” It’s a question we have each asked and been asked thousands of times. In 1974, writer Linda Rosenkrantz thought the answer to the question would make a fascinating book … considering her plan was to talk to her New York City artist friends. She had already written her best-selling book “Talk” (1968), and her idea with this new project was to discover how people fill up their day.
Director Ira Sachs (LITTLE MEN, 2016) opens the film with a note explaining that the recorded tapes of the conversation between Linda and famed photographer Peter Hujar on December 19, 1974, were misplaced. It wasn’t until 2019 when the typed transcript of their conversation was recovered that the idea of publication and a dramatized film version gathered strength. Ben Whishaw (WOMEN TALKING, 2022) plays Peter Hujar and Rebecca Hall (CHRISTINE, 2016) portrays Linda. These two, along with a tape recorder and Linda’s apartment, are the key characters in what, perhaps even more effectively, could have been a stage presentation. Although it’s not textbook cinema to film two characters having a long conversation, there is no denying the artistry to this film.
Still, this is a full run of two friends basically hanging out as one recounts the minutiae of his previous day. With Hujar being a well-known photographer, his name-dropping is probably more impressive than yours or mine. Susan Sontag and William Burroughs come up, and Hujar’s contract with the ‘New York Times’ to photograph Allen Ginsburg takes up much of the day’s energy. Whishaw’s take on Hujar’s oversharing can be interesting to watch – especially when he loses his train of thought and Hall’s Linda is there to rein him back in. The film surely works best as a time capsule of 1970’s artsy NYC, but tell me more about this “Topaz Caucasian”.
Opening in NYC and Los Angeles on November 7, 2025
Movie Reviews from the Dark 