The thing about great documentary filmmakers making the jump to narrative features is that they don't just tell a story; they build a world, brick by painstaking brick. They've spent their careers finding the truth, not inventing it. And when they finally get their hands on a script, you can feel that grounded reality pulsing beneath the surface. It's what made me a fan of Bing Liu back when he gave us Minding the Gap—a film that felt less like a movie and more like a wound, wide open and honest.
Now, he's back, trading the streets of Rockford for the relentless pulse of New York City, and the skateboard decks for something far more intimate. His first narrative feature, Preparation for the Next Life, has just revealed its official trailer, and it's a gut punch of a love story.
Based on the book of the same name by Atticus Lish, the film stars Sebiye Behtiyar as Aishe, a Uyghur woman who, after being trained by her military father, finds herself toiling in the punishing, often-unseen kitchens of Chinatown. Her world, a stark landscape of hard labor and quiet endurance, collides with that of Skinner, a young American soldier played by Fred Hechinger, who has just returned from three tours in the Middle East.
Their meeting, as fate would have it, feels less like a meet-cute and more like two ships finding a port in a storm. The trailer gives us glimpses of their budding connection—a shared quietness, a desperate hope for a life better than the ones they've been handed. The tagline, “Love isn't an escape, it's a reason to keep going,” hangs over every shot, a promise and a warning all at once.
Produced by a heavy-hitting team that includes Dede Gardner, Barry Jenkins, and Adele Romanski, Preparation for the Next Life seems poised to deliver the kind of raw, emotional weight we've come to expect from Liu. He's a director who understands that the biggest moments in life aren't always loud; they're often found in the quiet, in the spaces between words, in the look two people share when they realize they're not alone anymore.
No festival premieres have been announced yet, so we'll have to wait a little longer to hear the initial buzz. But we do know that Orion Pictures and Amazon MGM Studios are giving this one a theatrical run. Preparation for the Next Life is set for a limited theatrical release starting on September 5th, 2025.
It's been a while since a trailer made me feel like this. It's not trying to sell me on explosions or witty banter. It's selling me on a feeling—the feeling that even in the most unforgiving city, two broken people can find something real. And that, in and of itself, is a story for the ages.
