'There's a Spiritual Cost to the Immigrant Narrative'

"With his 2018 documentary Minding the Gap, director Bing Liu crafted a tender, reflective story that functioned as a portrait of masculinity, centered on three young men whose friendship is bound to their love of skateboarding. Liu's ability to coax truth from his subjects - including his own mother, whom he interviews about his abusive step-father - garnered the film a Best Documentary Feature nomination at the Academy Awards."

"Now in theaters, the film is the tightly wound tale of a Uyghur migrant, Aishe (played by first-time actress Sebiye Behtiyar), who pieces together a quiet, scrappy existence of grueling days and tired nights working in Chinatown kitchens. She tentatively starts a relationship with an Army veteran named Skinner ( Fred Hechinger), who is struggling with PTSD and housing precarity. The relationship isn't a reprieve from the systemic forces bearing down on them individually, but rather a magnifying glass for them."

"Preparation for the Next Life is being released in a moment of strife and fever-pitch arguments about the American Dream - its perils and illusory qualities especially for those who have migrated to a country so primed on their exploitation. Through Aishe's carefully tended story, Liu demonstrates the belief that if you work hard enough, abundance will follow to be more fantasy than truth."

Preparation for the Next Life follows Aishe, a Uyghur migrant who pieces together a quiet, scrappy existence of grueling days and tired nights working in Chinatown kitchens. She tentatively begins a relationship with Skinner, an Army veteran contending with PTSD and housing precarity. The relationship amplifies, rather than eases, systemic pressures: Aishe’s liminal status in America drains happiness and obstructs intimacy, while Skinner’s lack of adequate care worsens their connection. Performances are tender and restrained, and the storytelling avoids maudlin or condescending portrayals of immigration. The narrative underscores how the ideal that hard work guarantees abundance is often an illusion for migrants.

Read at Vulture