Preparation for the Next Life

She’s a Uyghur from China, he’s a newly discharged U.S. veteran, and both are fish out of water when they meet in (where else?) New York City. If you haven’t seen Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap, an Oscar-nominated documentary about skateboarding and generational trauma, you should. If you have, you’ll be unsurprised by the slow creep toward quiet devastation in his narrative debut. Preparation for the Next Life is a star-crossed romance in the mold of Past Lives and Blue Valentine, which is to say that its two leads aren’t perfect for one another — though they are deeply in love.

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Watching their courtship will make you want to give a speech at their wedding. It doesn’t begin with a meet-cute, but it is endearing despite the fact that he essentially follows her down the street after she catches his eye. He’s fresh out of the military and her father was a soldier, so they quickly bond over their shared pride in physical fitness. After making him prove how many pushups he can do, she flirtatiously lets him feel her bicep as she flexes it. They’re instantly drawn to one another, and in their playful competitiveness — they try to one-up each other in everything from downing beers to racing down the street — it seems like they’ve known each other for years. It’s one of those movie romances you feel deeply as soon as they meet, in part because you aren’t expecting a happy ending.

In her voiceover narration, which is sometimes lyrical and always heartfelt, Aishe mostly talks about her father. He taught her to run fast, and she’d like to think he’d be proud of her for how far she’s run — all the way to the end of the world, as she puts it. But the country she’s arrived in is also a beginning, one that draws in those who grew up hearing about the American Dream. Aishe is skeptical as to whether that dream still holds the promise it used to, but she nevertheless sees a chance to make a better life for herself.

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She’s played by Sebiye Behtiyar, who’s making her feature debut after starring in a few shorts over the last couple years. She imbues Aishe with strength, vulnerability, and poise from the outset; it’s hard to imagine a more affecting first impression. Fred Hechinger, who plays Bradley, is everywhere these days — not that there’s reason to complain. His character had the most poignant arc on the first season of The White Lotus and his presence in Thelma, Nickel Boys, and Gladiator II just last year made all three better. This is his most moving performance yet. Anyone with a friend or family member who has a good heart but is difficult to be around — so everyone, basically — will recognize Bradley’s struggle.

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Aishe speaks of their blossoming relationship and the happiness it’s brought her as “things I assumed weren’t meant for people like us,” which is the beauty of Liu’s film — people like these two rarely have their stories told onscreen, and even more rarely with a well of such authentic emotion. But if the honeymoon period that is Preparation for the Next Life’s first half hour will give you a vicarious dopamine hit, most of what follows is quite the comedown. Aishe and Bradley both have serious problems — she isn’t in the country legally, and he’s clearly suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — and what at first seemed dreamily romantic slowly turns toxic. Preparation for the Next Life will tug at your heartstrings, but it will also stress you out.

Watching their courtship will make you want to give a speech at their wedding.

Most of this comes with the territory in a romantic drama that’s also about the plight of undocumented immigrants and young veterans struggling to adjust to life after war. And while Preparation for the Next Life nimbly avoids the pitfalls of heavyhanded message movies, it also becomes less pleasant to watch the longer it goes on. Thanks to Liu’s direction and the two leads’ performances, however, you still won’t want to turn away.

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The title comes from a conversation Aishe has with an imam who tells her that, though she may suffer in this life, all of it is a mere prelude to the peace awaiting her in the next one. “That’s beautiful,” she tells him, “but I’m living in this life now.” Preparation for a Next Life is beautiful too, even if, like life, it’s also challenging.