Entertainment
With Mindy Kaling in her corner, author Amina Akhtar sets out to shake rather than strangle stereotypes
On the Shelf
Almost Surely Dead
By Amina Akhtar
Mindy’s Book Studio: 302 pages, $26.96
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Amina Akhtar was 4 when she first watched “The Exorcist.” It was a particularly memorable family movie night. But what she remembers most about it — what inspired the fashion-editor-turned-author’s third novel, “Almost Surely Dead,” more than 40 years later — was an exchange during the viewing between her brother and father.
“My brother revealed that the film was based on a true story,” Akhar remembered during a phone interview from her home not far from Sedona, Ariz. She was terrified so her father, whose side of the family has Sufi lineage, sought to reassure her. “He said, ‘That’s okay, honey, I know how to do an exorcism — and we all will be fine.’ And he was dead serious, absolutely dead serious.”
“Almost Surely Dead” owes much to such formative experiences. Out Thursday from Mindy’s Book Studio, actor-writer-producer Mindy Kaling’s publishing and development imprint at Amazon, the genre-fluid novel opens with the attempted murder of its protagonist, pharmacist Dunia Ahmed. Part supernatural thriller, part social commentary, part family saga, it’s also a refashioning of the stereotypical first-generation assimilation narrative, with the help of some magic and insights into Sufism.
What it most has in common with Akhtar’s first two novels, “#FashionVictim” and “Kismet,” is that it’s a book only she could have written. Raised in Texas in a family of five, Akhtar first channeled her bottomless curiosity into a career in journalism. Fresh out of New York University, she became an assistant at Vogue, which launched her through a gantlet of fashion publications as an influential online editor just as legacy brands including the New York Times , Elle and New York magazine, where Akhtar helped develop its vertical the Cut, were investing in their websites.
On her way up through the ranks, Akhtar was the picture of confidence, but inside she was swimming in self-doubt. Her success and unhappiness nourished each other in vicious waves — until the tsunami hit.
In 2013, Akhtar lost the two forces propelling her forward — her job at Elle and her mother, who died of pancreatic cancer. Her confidence shaken, she moved from New York to Sedona to live with her father (as she still does) and left the media world to become, eventually, a novelist. Her first novel, 2018’s “#FashionVictim,” alchemized fashion satire and thriller tropes into an exciting hybrid. Her 2022 followup, “Kismet,” tweaked the trendy wellness-oriented mysticism of Sedona with the help of propulsive suspense and a murder of (occasionally narrating) crows.
It was “Kismet” that caught the attention of Kaling, who was just getting Mindy’s Book Studio up and running when the book came out. Seeking to develop more diverse stories, Kaling had teamed up with Amazon to acquire and publish books through the tech giant’s publishing outfit. (Amazon’s film studio gets the first look at potential adaptations of Mindy’s Books.)
“I felt like [Dunia] was literally a version of me,” Kaling said during a phone call. “I didn’t know I was craving this until I read it, but I am so glad that it exists. I think Amina is incredibly adept at creating worlds that lend themselves to the screen and is so well versed in urbane, witty writing as a former journalist. Her brilliance on the page is 100% her, and I am just a fan who wants other people to love her incredibly stylish writing as much as I do.”
“Almost Surely Dead” is being released under Mindy Kaling’s imprint with Amazon Publishing.
(Ari Michelson)
Indeed, Akhtar’s book is more than just a genre amalgamation begging for screen adaptation. She employs the perspectives of Dunia both as a grown-up and at age 5 — recalling family stories about jinn-like spirits — as well as a fictional podcast team investigating Dunia’s disappearance. The supernatural flashback chapters of Dunia’s sleepwalks unpeel the layers of trapped family secrets that land Dunia in her present condition. The true crime podcast and present-day narratives ground us in her day-to-day struggles of trying (and sometimes failing) to be the friend and daughter she yearns to be.
With all the interwoven elements, early readers have taken their pick of favorite parts. The novel’s editor, Megha Parekh, who also worked on “Kismet,” enjoyed the semi-satirical treatment of the current obsession with true crime podcasts.
Alex Segura is in an intimate writers group with Akhtar and Kellye Garrett (all three are part of the Crime Writers of Color network). The friends differ on their own favorite parts (Segura prefers the present-day narration, Garrett the podcast), but they agree that what sets “Almost Surely Dead” apart from (and above) Akhtar’s first two novels is the strong autobiographical cultural element.
“I think Amina did a fantastic job interweaving the supernatural and it felt very natural,” Segura reflected over the phone, “but the family tension in this book is really what resonated with me — how families are both flawed and challenging, but also ours. I think Amina is established but she was also flying a little under the radar; this book is her real breakout, the kind of book that you can tell she’s been working toward.”
All of the dilemmas of the immigrant experience — particularly that of South Asians — are present in the book in ways that feel lived in and deeply personal. There is the weight of professional and cultural expectations for success and assimilation (but not too much of it). There are female friendships that begin as idealistic but turn sour. And there are the details of Dunia’s childhood: the birthday dress “full of frosting and flowers,” her father’s “princess and jinn” secret bedtime stories. At least to this South Asian American, they were as vivid and powerful as any madeleine. Like authors Celeste Ng and Sanjena Sathian, Akhtar manages to shake rather than strangle stereotypes.
It makes perfect sense that someone who had skyrocketed into the assimilated world of journalism and fashion, only to leave it behind and reconnect to the people who mattered most in a mystical landscape, would write a book like this.
“I’m literally out here in the middle of a mountain,” Akhtar says, “where I see wild animals more often than I see people, which is a very different experience than my past life in New York. I joke about how my dad was this ‘super-Pakistani’ dad who told me, ‘You will do this and you will do that’ — no questions asked — but now he is just the complete opposite, my best buddy, my No. 1 fan. I’m grateful I’ve got this time with him because it’s such a whole new wonderful experience for me that I want to write a sitcom about it.”
Fortunately, she has an in with Mindy Kaling.
Pizza Movie (2026) Director: Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, Star: Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone
Somehow, I got through an hour of this movie. I was seconds away from turning off in the first fifteen minutes because of the juvenile humor. Pizza Movie is too silly, repetitive, and the characters are annoying. Stranger Things Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone star as college friends, Jack and Montgomery. College angles are rarely seen in films right now, and that’s the one saving grace of the film. Similar to high school, people are also trying to fit in. The story and visuals were too corny. You can only watch someone’s head exploding for so long without letting yours.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) Director: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, Stars: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy
I never saw the first Super Mario Brothers Movie when it was out, but I heard it got positive reviews. My brother always loved playing Super Mario video games as a kid, and I’d watch him. I tagged along with my friends to see Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and it’s a cute and fun film. I like it when movies explore the video game world. The animation creates unique worlds and characters. The characters are split into their own storylines, and for me, I felt like it worked. It adds more action, especially for kids who are seeing the films.
Emily in Paris Season 5 (2025) Creator: Darren Star, Stars: Lily Collins and Ashley Park
After a bright spot in season 4, I thought season 5 of Emily in Paris would continue its growth in the story and its protagonist, but no, it’s all drained out in the usual Emily (Lily Collins) mishaps. Ashley Park (Mindy) has become too good for this show. Emily and Mindy waste several opportunities because of their love lives. The whole relationship angle is ruining it. I don’t understand why Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) is still in the show. I thought writers learned their lesson, but by the last episode, they’re continuing to bring the past into an apparent season 6.
Sarah’s Oil (2025) Director: Cyrus Nowrasteh, Stars: Naya Desir-Johnson and Zachary Levi
There’s always history lurking right beneath our noses. Sarah’s Oil (2025) tells the true story of Sarah Rector, an Oklahoma-born African American girl who became the first black female millionaire in the U.S. Naya Desir-Johnson is fierce and driven as Sarah. Zachary Levi is also along for the ride as Bert, a man who helps Sarah. Kate (Bridget Regan) was another favorite character as an intelligent woman. Cyrus Nowrasteh was drawn to the subject for its story and its themes. Nowrasteh’s direction is compelling as he unearths a hidden story from history. The film is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Jack Goes Boating (2014) Director and Star: Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan
Jack Goes Boating (2014) didn’t quite work for me, largely because of its slow pace and uneven storytelling. The film stars the late Seymour Hoffman as Jack, who also directed the film. This was Hoffman’s first and only time in the directing chair. Amy Ryan also stars in the film, giving a solid performance. This was also based on a play that Hoffman starred in. Jack wants to participate in a swim championship. That’s hardly what the film is about, tracking other characters’ stories. While the film aims for quiet intimacy, it ultimately drags, making it an underwhelming viewing experience.
You Kill Me (2016), Director: John Dahl, Stars: Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, Luke Wilson
Meet You Kill Me (2016), yet another film that I found in the museum of underrated gems. The concept revolves around Frank (Ben Kingsley), a hitman, who is sent to an A.A. meeting to get his mind focused again. A different story happens, where Frank falls in love with Laurel (Tea Leoni). Leoni is one of my favorite actresses. It also stars the funny Luke Wilson. I liked the trio’s dynamics. You Kill Me is a mental health movie. It’s okay to make changes if you’re not happy. I recommended that you keep an eye out for this movie.
Entertainment
Review: Trigger warning? ‘For Want of a Horse’ gives new meaning to the term ‘animal lover’
“For Want of a Horse,” a play by Olivia Dufault receiving its world premiere in an Echo Theater Company production at Atwater Village Theatre, wants to have a rational conversation about a taboo topic that can provoke instant outrage.
The subject is zoophilia, not to be confused with bestiality, though for many of us it will be a distinction without much of a difference.
Calvin (Joey Stromberg), a good-looking, mild-mannered married accountant, has harbored a secret for much of his life. He has a thing for horses. His erotic interest began at an early age, and all his efforts to lead a normal life have left him depressed and contemplating suicide.
His wife, Bonnie (Jenny Soo), is a permissive kindergarten teacher who’s having difficulty restraining a girl in her class who has discovered the joys of masturbation. Worried about her husband, she discovers through his browsing history that he’s once again visiting strange animal sites.
She suggests he keep a horse, explaining that she doesn’t want to end up a widow or divorcée. Calvin is taken aback by her generosity but has come to recognize that his preference is more than a kink. It’s part of his identity — and maybe the only part that makes his life seem worth living.
Joey Stromberg and Jenny Soo in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
A horse named Q-Tip (Griffin Kelly) enters the couple’s lives. A stable is secured, and the mare, who senses that something strange is going on, is indulged with apples and caresses.
Kelly, a statuesque presence in a dress, harness and boots, brings the horse to life with wild, unpredictable movements. The sheer size of the animal poses a threat to humans. One kick, as Q-Tip herself explains in one of her thought-bubble monologues, is capable of penetrating a steel wall. But controlling an animal’s food supply is an effective way of winning over its trust.
Calvin has found support in the online zoophilia community. PJ (Steven Culp), a man whose current inamorata is a bichon frise, is considering moving to a country where zoophilia isn’t illegal. He’s tired of the shame and the secrecy. He’s proud of his attachment to pooch, even if his thing for dogs has cost him contact with his daughter and ex-wife.
Dufault doesn’t shy away from sexual details. For PJ, intimacy depends on peanut butter. Calvin describes the physical signals that reveal Q-Tip’s erotic satisfaction. The play occasionally descends into sitcom humor. (PJ says he’s considering creating a human-dog dating app called Rin Tin Tinder.) But mostly the subdued tone steers clear of sensationalism.
The production, directed by Elana Luo, is scrupulously well-acted by the four-person cast. Stromberg makes Calvin seem not only reasonable but surprisingly sensitive. Soo’s Bonnie sweetly embodies the excesses of a kind of progressive piety. As PJ, Culp gruffly embraces his role as the play’s polemical fire-starter. And Kelly’s Q-Tip, in the production’s most physically demanding performance, straddles the human-animal divide with theatrical aplomb.
Steven Culp, left, and Joey Stromberg in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
The open-mindedness that Dufault, a trans playwright, brings to the play creates some dramatic slack. Possibly the same fear of making value judgments that has inhibited Bonnie from imposing common-sense discipline in her classroom has robbed “For Want of a Horse” of a propulsive point of view.
The play moves monotonously between Calvin and Bonnie’s bedroom and the stable. Scenic designer Alex Mollo has worked out an efficient way of shifting between these realms by employing the same set of wooden trunks. But the argument of the play doesn’t so much build as elapse.
Time takes its toll, and Calvin eventually has to make a decision. But the character who interested me most was Bonnie, whose reality is only glimpsed. The play tacitly uses her husband’s threat of suicide as a trump card. Zoophilia isn’t merely a fetish for Calvin but a nonnegotiable part of his identity.
This questionable assumption can be psychologically scrutinized not only from Calvin’s point of view but also from his wife’s. The play wants to have an intelligent debate, but it doesn’t want to interrogate certain political positions too skeptically.
At one point, Bonnie objects when Calvin compares his situation to that of homosexuality, but the conversation ends there. The reality is that the right wing has been making a similar claim, arguing that same-sex marriage opens the door to bestiality, polygamy and incest. “For Want of a Horse” inadvertently lends legitimacy to this line of reasoning.
Griffin Kelly in “For Want of a Horse” at the Echo Theater Company.
(Cooper Bates)
Not that extremist positions should be off limits, but they ought to be more rigorously addressed. Similarly, Bonnie’s concern about the issue of consent — how can a horse say yes to intercourse with a human — is introduced only to be dismissed in a shrug of mild-mannered bothsidesism.
While watching “For Want of a Horse,” I recalled a program on PBS called “My Wild Affair” that wasn’t about zoophilia but about the problematic nature of human bonds with untamed animals. Relationships with a seal, an elephant and a rhino, for example — obsessive, protective, loving friendships — all seemed to end if not in outright tragedy, then in shattering heartbreak.
Q-Tip is rightfully given the play’s last word, and Kelly, an actor (HBO’s “The Book of Queer”), writer and comedian, is the production’s driving force. We can never know what’s inside this mare’s mind because Q-Tip’s brain has evolved so differently from our own. Kelly plays the anthropomorphic game while retaining some of the inscrutability of a four-legged creature.
It is through language that we, as humans, traverse the chasm separating us from one another. That’s not possible with animals, even with our closest domestic companions. (Try explaining a necessary medical procedure to a cat.)
“For Want of a Horse” sets out to speak about the unspeakable, but its construction may be too tame for such a wild subject.
‘For Want of a Horse’
Where: Echo Theater Company, Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., L.A.
When: 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays, Mondays; 4 p.m. Sundays. Ends May 25
Tickets: $15-$42.75
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (no intermission)
Info: echotheatercompany.com
Desert Warrior, 2026.
Directed by Rupert Wyatt.
Starring Anthony Mackie, Aiysha Hart, Ben Kingsley, Ghassan Massoud, Sharlto Copley, Sami Bouajila, Lamis Ammar, Géza Röhrig, Numan Acar, Nabil Elouahabi, Hakeem Jomah, Ramsey Faragallah, Saïd Boumazoughe, and Soheil Bostani.
SYNOPSIS:
An honorable and mysterious rogue, known as Hanzala, makes himself an enemy of the Emperor Kisra after he helps a fugitive king and princess in the desert.
With aspirations of being a historical epic harkening back to the sword and sandal blockbusters of yesteryear, Rupert Wyatt’s seventeenth-century Arabia tale is about as generic and epically dull as one would expect from a film plainly titled Desert Warrior. Yes, there appear to be real locations here, and there are some admittedly sweeping shots of various tribes storming into battle on horseback and camels, but it’s all in service of a mess that is both miscast and questionable as the work of a filmmaking team of mostly white creatives.
The story of Emperor Kisraa (Ben Kingsley, a distracting presence even with only one or two scenes) rounding up women from other tribes to be his concubines, which inevitably became the catalyst for a revolution led by Princess Hind (Aiysha Hart), uniting all the divided clans and strategizing battle plans for flanking and poisoning, is undeniably ripe for cinematic treatment. The problem is that what’s here from Rupert Wyatt (and screenwriters Erica Beeney, Gary Ross, and David Self) is less than nothing in the primary creative process; no one seems to have a connection to Arabic heritage or culture, but they have made a flat-out boring film that is often narratively incoherent.
Following the death of her father and escaping the clutches of oppression, the honorable Princess Hind joins forces with a troubled, nameless bandit played by Anthony Mackie (he totally belongs here…), who seems to be here solely to give the movie some star power boost without running the risk of white savior accusations. Whatever the case may be, it’s jarring, but not quite as disorienting as how little screen time he has despite being billed as the lead and how little characterization he has. It is, however, equally disorienting as some of the other names that show up along the way.
As for the other factions, Princess Hind talks to them one by one, giving the film an adventure feel that fails to capitalize on using beautiful scenery in striking or visually poignant ways at almost every turn; the leaders of these tribes also often have no character. There also isn’t much of an understanding of why these tribes are at odds with one another. This movie is filled with dialogue that consistently and shockingly amounts to vague nothingness. Nevertheless, each tribe doesn’t take much convincing to begin with, meaning that not only is the film repetitive, but it’s also lifeless when characters are in conversation.
That Desert Warrior does occasionally spring to life, and a bloated 2+ running time is a small miracle. This is typically accomplished through the occasional fight scene between factions that also serves to demonstrate Princess Hind coming into her own as a warrior. When the tribes are united in a massive-scale battle, and that plan is unfolding step by step, one certainly sees why someone would want to tell this story and pull it off with such spectacle. However, this film is as dry as the desert itself.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder
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