Aishe, a Uyghur woman trained by her military father, migrates to New York City where she finds herself laboring in Chinatown’s underground kitchens. She fatefully encounters Skinner, a young American soldier who has just returned from three tours in the Middle East. While falling in love, they discover the possibility of a better life together than the ones they believed they were destined to live alone.
Critics' Reviews
70
Perhaps in another life, theirs would be a simple love story. But in this one, nothing comes simply, least of all that. For those living at the margins of modern-day New York City, love is not some transcendent, conquering force but instead a constant negotiation; like their survival, it is fragile, hard-won, far from guaranteed. “Preparation for the Next Life,” a beautifully tough and unflinching narrative feature debut by the documentary filmmaker Bing Liu (who was Oscar-nominated for “Minding the Gap”), is as sensitive to such painful, implacable realities as it is alive to the possibilities that nevertheless emerge, in small moments of tenderness and connection, between its characters.
Full Cast of Preparation for the Next Life
Clem Cheung
Kitchen Boss
Crew of Preparation for the Next Life
Full backstage crew list →- Released September 05, 2025