Preparation for the Next Life

“Love isn’t an escape, it’s a reason to keep going.”

Aishe (Sebiye Behtiyar), a young undocumented immigrant working in New York, meets Skinner (Fred Hechinger), a drifter and former soldier who has his own weight to carry. They find each other in the margins of the city, moving through warehouse jobs and cheap rooms, building a relationship neither expected to have. Bing Liu holds them in close, steady shots as they sit together in the dark, the light from a window cutting across their faces.