Weak Layers Review – Awesome Cinematography, An Immersive Experience

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Category: Indies, Docs, Foreign Film

Published on Thursday, 04 January 2024 19:35

Written by Janet Walker

Weak Layers, from Greenwich Entertainment, presents a visually captivating and voyeuristic immersion into ski culture party towns as the world of competitive skiers, hot shots, VIPs, and nobodies gather to celebrate another day on the slopes.

The film opens as Cleo Brown, played by Katie Burrell, talking to some drunk tourist guy, played by Kevin Alain, and as the party begins to rage, we see frat house Friday night explode with guys jumping nude out a second story window into a snow drift, which sets the tone. By the time we get inside, the beer, shots, and weed are flowing freely.

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Cleo, who explains to the drunk tourist guy she is a filmmaker but really lacks the courage to create anything but videos and begins to film the out-of-control party. By now, she, obviously has a reputation for trouble, as she quickly texts her two besties, Tina Gates, played by Chelsea Conwright, and Lucy Lin, played by Jadyn Wong, explaining they "really need to leave."

The trio, who we quickly begin to understand are insatiable, and live life all in as they charge the slopes with abandon, and party with equal abandon. Like a screeching halt, when the landlord, played by Dave Cherry, arrives the next morning and explains to them they are the absolute worst young women he has ever met, and they are evicted immediately, they realize to secure a new rental they will need at least five grand.

They end up borrowing a van from Ross, played by Charlie Manoukian, Cleo’s ex-boyfriend and while they are deciding on how they are going to earn the money, she, in her pie in the sky ideas decides to enter the ski documentary contest where the winner will win five thousand dollars.

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Then the girls hit the slopes, and for our trio, each an expert, they ride the snowmobiles beyond the tree line for a day of hard-charging, aggressive and ambitious runs. The cinematography is awesome, as these wild, insatiable, party animals truly show another side of themselves.

Now that we see them as expert skiers, and at one point invested in something long enough to conquer it, and not careless, irresponsible, slackers, and for a moment we hope for them. So, with the contest incredibly important, almost imperative, they all agree, no booze, no sex, no drugs, for the next two days.

With a determination to take the glossy male-dominated industry down a notch or two while trying to win prize money to put a roof over their heads, Cleo, a stuck-in-life ski town local, and her two roommates, Tina, and Lucy, both younger, and off the charts wilder are in this ski film competition against the best pros in the world, including Dane Blake, played by Neal Bledsoe, who is finally on a comeback trip after witnessing his friend die in an avalanche.

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By the end we find that our girls, who seemed to be on a collision course with life, were in fact on a path to enlightenment.

Weak Layers, a hyped up, captivating, 99-minute immersive ride through ski town culture; National Lampoon’s Animal House on skis and steroids. The ensemble cast had great screen chemistry and embodied their characters dynamically, so much so that the self-limiting beliefs of the main character resonated with intensity. Her fear of failure and worse, concern over what everyone would think of her was best captured through another line, "What are you 14? Who cares what people think?" Visually, the film is stunning.

Weak Layers opens in New York and Los Angeles, Friday, January 5, 2024. See it.

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Country: U.S.

Language: English.

Runtime: 99 minutes.

Director: Katie Burrell.

Producers: Jared Drake, Andrew Ladd. 

Writer: Katie Burrell. 

Cast: Katie Burrell, Chelsea Conwright, Jadyn Wong, Evan Jonigkeit, Neal Bledsoe, Debbie Dutton, Josh Gold, Beau Martino, Nui Ponphila, D. Brad St. Cyr, Colton Ward, Robin Soli, Dave Cherry, Scott Gaffney, Darius Devine, KC Deane, Dan Morrison, Pak Castillo, Robb Watts.