‘Preparation for the Next Life’ Review: A Quiet, Unseen Gem of Contemporary American Cinema
After being released from a detention center, Aishe, an undocumented Uyghur immigrant, moves to New York with the promise of leaving everything that haunts her behind.
Among the more pleasant—and poorly promoted—surprises buried in the endless menus of streaming platforms, Preparation for the Next Life stands out as a small gem that has largely escaped both critical radar and algorithmic recommendation. Released in U.S. theaters last September without a prior festival run, this immigration drama centered on a woman from China’s Uyghur minority living in New York went mostly unnoticed, despite being directed by a previously Oscar-nominated filmmaker and produced by an A-list Hollywood star.
Despite what its title might suggest, the film has nothing to do with illness or impending death. At most, it gestures toward a religious debate: what exactly is “the next life”? Is it the one that comes after death, as an imam tells the protagonist? Or is it the life one manages—or fails—to build here and now? That question preoccupies Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar), a Uyghur woman who arrives in New York as an undocumented immigrant after enduring a series of personal and family hardships. Rarely represented on screen, the Uyghurs primarily live in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, as well as in neighboring countries such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. They have their own Turkic language, often speak Mandarin as well, and have a long, conflicted history with the Chinese state.
The film, however, is not really about that history—or only touches on it obliquely. Its true focus lies in Aishe’s day-to-day struggle to survive in a city where finding work is difficult, especially without papers. A somewhat overused voiceover has her briefly recounting her family background and her difficulty adapting, but the narrative is primarily concerned with her relationship with Skinner (Fred Hechinger, The White Lotus), a U.S. military veteran she meets on the street, becomes involved with, and eventually falls in love with.
Bing Liu, the U.S.-based filmmaker born in China whose documentary Minding the Gap earned an Oscar nomination in 2022, patiently lays the groundwork for the conflict to come. Unsurprisingly, Skinner turns out not to be the easygoing, well-adjusted returnee he initially appears to be, but a deeply troubled young man whose issues are clearly tied to post-traumatic stress from combat in the Middle East. As his instability resurfaces, the relationship begins to fray. At the same time, Aishe faces mounting problems related to work, immigration status, and money, while holding onto the hope that marrying Skinner might solve many of them. Even if both want that future, getting there proves far from simple.
Adapted from Atticus Lish’s 2014 novel, Preparation for the Next Life is ultimately a film about Aishe’s resilience, and about women like her who carry heavy personal histories and discover that even after migrating to supposedly safer countries, stability and peace remain elusive. While the novel predates the most recent wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in the U.S., the experiences depicted here resonate strongly with the realities many immigrants face today—often in circumstances that are just as difficult, if not worse.
The film does lose some momentum in its second act, repeating the couple’s cycles of reconciliation and conflict as Skinner’s mental health deteriorates and Aishe’s personal struggles pile up. Still, Preparation for the Next Life remains closely attuned to its characters and is shot with an unusually strong sense of realism on the streets of New York, particularly in immigrant neighborhoods where the city’s racial and cultural diversity becomes palpable: different Chinese communities, Latino immigrants from multiple countries, and a dense, lived-in social fabric rarely captured with this degree of immediacy.
Religion plays a secondary role, but one that surfaces in Aishe’s internal conflict as she tentatively attempts to reconnect with the Muslim faith inherited from her family. The notion that everything will be resolved “in another life” ultimately proves unsatisfying for a woman determined to claim a future in this one. Ironically, the film itself suffered a similar fate: despite being produced by Brad Pitt, it received minimal theatrical exposure, no festival attention, and almost no promotional push upon its release.
It may not be a masterpiece, but Preparation for the Next Life is a thoughtful, worthwhile film—the fiction debut of a talented filmmaker with a strong visual sensibility. Perhaps, in some “next life,” the merits of this unjustly overlooked movie will finally be recognized.
