The cast of No Time to Die stars Daniel Craig as James Bond, Ana de Armas as Paloma, Jeffery Wright as Felix Leiter, Rami Malek as Safin, Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann, Lashana Lynch as Nomi, Ben Whishaw as Q, Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld and Ralph Fiennes as M. Also starring are Rory Kinnear, Dali Benssalah, David Dencik, and Billy Magnussen

A Danjaq LLC. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. production, No Time to Die is directed by Cary Joji Funkunaga and produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli.  Get ready for No Time to Die coming to theaters November 20, 2020. 

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Cutting Through the Layers of A Brilliantly Crafted Murder Mystery

Knives Out, at first glance appears to be a brilliantly crafted murder mystery, showcasing Golden Globe-nominated, Cuban-born actress, Ana de Armas.  As conceived and realized by writer/director Rian Johnson, Knives Out is being hailed as the best murder mystery ever. No argument here. Knives Out is a movie that will leave you guessing until the rolling of the credits at the end.

Johnson also wrote and directed Brick, a lovely little film noir gem set in a high school with a teenage loner, (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Third Rock from The Sun) investigating the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend. Brick is a personal favorite and now I can add Knives Out to my list.

In Knives Out, Christopher Plummer, plays Harlan Thrombey, the super-wealthy patriarch of a highly dysfunctional, greedy, and thoroughly corrupt family. Harlan intends to cut them all out of his will.

Famed Southern detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a sort of grits ‘n collard greens version of Hercule Poirot is hired to investigate the suspicious circumstances of Thrombey’s suicide, to invalidate Marta’s inheritance, claim to the family fortune.

Johnson’s plot, in Knives Out, has more twists and turns than a pretzel caught up in a Kansas tornado. But an examination of the subtext of the storyline, offers some interesting meditations on current Latino cultural and political issues.

“They All Look Alike”

No one seems to know exactly where Marta is from. At various points in the film, Marta is thought to be from Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. This hints at Anglo America’s tendency to lump all Latino communities into one, all-encompassing, monolithic burrito. The fact that no one in the Thrombey family has no idea where Marta is from underscores White America’s ignorance of the rich diversity in food, customs and music that exists within the larger, extended Latino community. 

That ethnic ignorance is evident in Stephen Miller’s (Senior Advisor to the President for Policy) barbaric, no tolerance immigration policy along the Tex-Mex border. Safe to say, no one in the Trump administration knows the difference between a mariachi and a margarita. Their loss.

The Noble Innocent

In films like Knives Out, where a wealthy Anglo family has a Latina housekeeper, nanny, maid, or in this case, a caregiver, they are always portrayed as humble, grateful, hard-working servants whose only purpose in life is to serve their gringo overlords. Salma Hayek, in Beatriz at Dinner, comes to mind.

de Armas, as Marta, is indeed humble, trustworthy and honest; honest to a fault. Marta is so averse to lying, whenever an untruth slips out from her lips, she has a severe physiological reaction: she pukes. But it’s Marta’s innate goodness and honesty that is the central plot element that drives the narrative. Marta is the connective tissue in Knives Out.

Everyone in Knives Out reacts to Marta in one way or another. Marta, the noble innocent, is the locus of the mystery.

The New Working Class and the Power of women

America’s working-class hero is no longer a Joe Schmo, with a lunch pail, going off to toil in some assembly line. It’s a thing of the past.  It’s a thing now only wistfully spoken about by old white guys gathered in diners in the Midwest.

Johnson’s script illustrates the present reality: the new working-class is women, women of color, and most especially, Latina women working in menial, thankless minimum wage jobs. Johnson could have cast an Eastern European or Southeast Asian immigrant in the role of the caregiver. But he smartly and rightly recognizes the emerging Latino demographics in 21^st century America.

In Sergio Arau’s whimsical film fantasy, A Day Without a Mexican, posits an apocalyptic future where white America is left to fend for themselves when Mexicans turn in their noble innocent cards and decide not to show up for work.

But Marta is also a testament to the power of women. How is it this young girl from an unknown Latin American country has such a profound effect on the rich and powerful Thrombey family?

Certainly writer/director, Johnson, through Marta, is channeling the all-too-obvious evidence of powerful women in the world today: 16-year old Greta Thunberg, the Joan of Arc of the Climate Change Movement,  speaks truth to power as she challenges the fossil fuel dinosaurs, 79-year old Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has Trump by the short hairs and has him squealing like a stuck pig, and for the first time in recorded history, beautiful black women, this year, won every major beauty pageant. On the political spectrum, women won a record number of congressional seats in the 2018 midterm election, many of them Latinas.

A View from the Balcony

The final shot, in Knives Out is a perfect metaphor for the cultural, sociological and demographic changes just over the horizon.

Marta is totally guileless. Her actions throughout the film are guided by a strong, internal moral compass that always steers her in the right direction. Marta wins because she is simply a better person than everyone else in the film

It was that natural integrity that enabled the old, rich patriarch, Harlan Thrombvey, to entrust Marta with his deepest secrets, his life and ultimately, his wealth.

In the final shot, we see Marta high atop the mansion balcony looking down at the ruthless Thrombey clan. That shot with Marta in the superior position and the Thrombey’s in the inferior position below, is cinematic shorthand to show who’s the boss now: a Latina.

From the balcony, Marta is seen sipping coffee from a cup. Uno momento, is that Colombian coffee, Marta? Is Rian Johnson hinting that you are from Bogotá or Cartagena? No matter, we all look alike, right?

Regardless of where Marta or the coffee comes from, Knives Out and de Armas performance is an entertaining, rich, aromatic brew that is good to the very last drop.

Knives Out is written and directed by Rian Johnson and stars: Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis with Marlene Forte playing De Armas’ mother and Raul Castillo (Looking) doing a cameo as a police officer; and Meg (Katherine Langford) and Marta (Ana de Armas)

Knives Out was released by Lionsgate on November 27, 2019 and has so far grossed  $185,573,909 worldwide on a budget of $40 million.

Lauded by critics for Oscar nominations for Best Actress for Ana de Armas, Best Supporting Actor, Daniel Craig, Best Original Screenplay, Rian Johnson, and Best Production Design, David Crank. Come January 13, 2020 when the Oscar nominees are announced we will see if the voting body of the Academy of Motion Pictures Art and Sciences agrees.

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By Luis Reyes

The latest James Bond 007 super-spy adventure Bond 25 starring Daniel Craig has a new official title No Time To Die and is set to released on April 8, 2020 by MGM.  Ana de Armas (Bladerunner 2049) co-stars as the latest Bond Woman (Bond Girls is no longer PC), as Paloma, Bond’s love interest.  Oscar winning best actor Rami Malik is the latest Bond villain, and is joined by another Oscar winner Christoph Waltz who will reprise his Bond Spectre nemesis Blofield.

The latest franchise outing, directed by Cary Fukunaga, James Bond finds himself in retirement in the Bahamas when his old CIA friend Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright ) enlists his help in finding a missing scientist. When both the scientist and Leiter go missing, Bond springs back into action as he confronts a dangerous villain armed with never before seen technology.

De Armas who starred alongside Craig in the crime-comedy film, Knives Out, a mystery satire in which she plays Marta, a devoted nurse to a family patriarch who is found murdered, is due out November 27th.

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At a Press conference held on location in the island nation of Jamaica by the producers of the latest James Bond film, James Bond 25 Ana de Armas was presented as the newest Bond girl in the latest 007 film opposite Daniel Craig who is returning in the iconic role as James Bond in the yet untitled but now known as James Bond 25, as the twenty-fifth film in the 007 franchise. De Armas whose character is yet unnamed, could be a possible love interest for the debonair secret agent. Academy award winning Best actor Rami Malek has been cast as the principal villain.  De Armas is best known for her role as Ryan Gosling’s virtual girlfriend in the sci-fi thriller Blade Runner 2049. The beautiful young de Armas joins a long list of actresses whose careers have been catapulted as Bond girls such as Ursula Andress, Halle Berry, Barbara Carrera, Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Sigman among many others.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair de Armas remarked on the availability of good roles for women and Latinas in Hollywood, “As a woman and a Latina, It’s pretty challenging. I have two separate labels to fight against, but I know I just have to stay strong and true to what I believe in.”

Born and raised in Cuba of a Cuban father and Spanish mother, Ana made her film debut at the age of 18 in the Spanish film Una Rosa De Francia (A French Rose) and appeared on several TV series there. She moved to Los Angeles in 2014 to seek more acting opportunities. In 2015 she made her American film debut with Keanu Reeves in the film Knock Knock and Exposed in which she heated up the screen in a topless nude scene.  In 2016 she had roles in two feature films, the Roberto Duran boxing drama Hands of Stone with Edgar Ramirez and Robert De Niro and War Dogs with Jonah Hill.

The new James Bond adventure film will take de Armas to shooting locations in Jamaica, Norway, Italy and Pinewood Studios in London under the direction of Oakland, California born and raised Cary Fukunaga (Beasts of No Nation, Sin Nombre) who also wrote and directed True Detective and Maniac.

De Armas will next be seen in a co-starring role in the upcoming feature film The Night Clerk, a crime thriller opposite John Lequizamo and Helen Hunt.

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