Play It As It Lays

Play It As It Lays

Though we’re strongly recommending the 1972 film of Joan Didion’s novel Play It as It Lays, we haven’t actually seen it. Most people haven’t. Never released on home video (there’s a pirated version currently up on YouTube), Play It as It Lays enjoyed critical acclaim at the time of its release and racked up a few retrospective essays, but it hasn’t been widely available since, meaning that this 35mm screening is a particularly rare cinematic opportunity. Didion adapted her novel with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, whose brother, Dominick Dunne, produced the film with its director, Frank Perry (responsible for some of the strangest, most depressing wide-release films ever, including Diary of a Mad Housewife, The Swimmer, and Mommie Dearest). The film reunites Tuesday Weld and Anthony Perkins from another cult classic, Pretty Poison, in a tale of disconnection in the movie business, and its themes are timely in the #MeToo era. Whether more people will get to see the film in the future is still uncertain, so see it here while you can. —Zack Smith