| Amazon MGM Studios | Release Date: September 5, 2025 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
11
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Sep 5, 2025
The adaptation frames the relationship it depicts less as a romance than as the intersection of two individuals in their own moments of transition. It’s a much better movie for it, though I’d guess that one of the reasons it’s getting such a quiet release is that it’s not a desperate melodrama about people trying to save each other.
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Sep 4, 2025
It would be natural to place this film in the context of America’s ongoing immigration crisis. Certainly it is “topical.” But I think Liu and Majok have transcended its immediate relevance. It’s a human drama, not a sociological artifact. Because of its quality of feeling, and the remarkable performances of its two leads, it will likely outlast its historical moment.
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Sep 4, 2025
Liu’s adaptation of Atticus Lish’s PEN/Faulkner Award-winning 2014 novel wends its way through the contradictions and tragedies of love between two people who need more than just a bed warmed by another body. Preparation delicately brings them together and devastatingly gives every reason for them to fall apart.
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Aug 28, 2025
Other attributes carried over from Liu’s nonfiction work are his restraint and avoidance of sentimentality in a slow-burn, heavily observational drama whose unhurried pacing requires patience. But there’s a haunting quality to the melancholy story that stays with you, and despite what often seems like a bleak outlook, it finds resonant notes of hope.
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Next Best PictureAug 30, 2025
Preparation for the Next Life emerges as a poignant and empathetic examination of the challenges faced by young people in America. Through Bing Liu’s sensitive direction and Sebiya Behtiyar’s standout performance, it tells the story of two survivors bound by love but trapped in circumstances beyond their control.
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