Bing Liu on the Spiritual Cost of the American Dream

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. His first narrative fictional feature, Preparation for the Next Life , refines that sense of care and gentle touch to even greater effect.

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