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    Saying Goodbye to the Messy, Murderous World of ‘Elite’

    A diverse cast of characters and a murder to solve each school year have helped make this teen drama one of Netflix’s longest-running original shows.Shooting the eighth and final season of Netflix’s teen crime drama “Elite” last November, crew members yelled “silencio” so often it could have been mistaken for a chant.Dozens of young actors, dressed in black tie, talked and laughed as they milled around a set on the outskirts of Madrid that depicted a nightclub. The Brazilian actor André Lamoglia seemed used to the chaos as he waited, perching on the bar in a black suit with white trim, to lead another of the show’s rowdy party scenes.After the cameras finally started rolling, and with the extras making much less noise, Lamoglia’s character, Iván, took a seemingly casual selfie with his half sister Chloe (Mirela Balic) that was actually part of a scheme to discover who murdered his friend.Unruly teenagers, expensive clothes and mysterious dead bodies are all typical for the Spanish-language show which, since its premiere in 2018, has become one of Netflix’s most popular original titles, and one of the longest-running. (The final season is being released Friday.)In its first season, “Elite” used a setup familiar from other successful teen shows, including “Gossip Girl” and “Beverly Hills, 90210”: inserting beautiful outsiders into an exclusive social setting. In this case, three scholarship students join Las Encinas, an expensive private high school. But at Las Encinas, every year (and season) there is also a murder for students and the police to investigate.This blending of soapy teen drama and tense murder mystery has helped the show run for eight seasons, and by its fourth, “Elite” was ranking in Netflix’s weekly Top 10 chart in more than 70 countries, according to data from the streamer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Can Japan’s First Same-Sex Dating Reality Show Change Hearts and Minds?

    Producers of “The Boyfriend” on Netflix hope it will encourage broader acceptance of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in Japan, which still has not legalized same-sex unions.Japan is the only country among the world’s wealthiest democracies that has not legalized same-sex unions. Few celebrities are openly gay. Conservative groups oppose legislative efforts to protect the L.G.B.T.Q. community.But now, Netflix is introducing the country’s first same-sex dating reality series.Over 10 episodes of “The Boyfriend,” which will be available in 190 countries beginning on July 9, a group of nine men gather in a luxury beach house outside Tokyo. The format evokes Japan’s most popular romantic reality show, “Terrace House,” with its assembly of clean cut and exceedingly polite cast members, overseen by a panel of jovial commentators.The vibe is wholesome and mostly chaste. The men, who range in age from 22 to 36, operate a coffee truck during the day and cook dinner at night, with occasional forays outside for dates. One of the biggest (among very few) conflicts of the series revolves around the cost of buying raw chicken to make protein shakes for a club dancer who is trying to maintain his physique. Sex rarely comes up, and friendship and self-improvement feature as prominently as romance.In Japan, the handful of openly gay and transgender performers who regularly appear on television are typically flamboyant, effeminate comic foils who are shoehorned into exaggerated stereotypes. With “The Boyfriend,” Dai Ota, the executive producer, said he wanted to “portray same-sex relationships as they really are.”Mr. Ota, who was also a producer of “Terrace House,” which was made by Fuji TV and licensed and distributed globally by Netflix, said he had avoided “the approach of ‘let’s include people who cause problems.’”“The Boyfriend,” he said, represents diversity in another way — with cast members of South Korean, Taiwanese and multiethnic heritages.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘Baby Reindeer,’ Netflix’s New Stalker Drama, Is Based on a True Story

    The Netflix series is based on the real-life experience of its creator, Richard Gadd, who also stars in the show.Richard Gadd and Jessica Gunning in “Baby Reindeer.”Ed Miller/NetflixRichard Gadd created and stars in the mesmerizing, complex drama “Baby Reindeer” (on Netflix), which is based on his experience of being stalked. Here he plays Donny Dunn, an aspiring comedian and miserable bartender, living with his ex-girlfriend’s mother and stewing in regret.So one day when Martha (Jessica Gunning) sits at his bar, he feels bad for her — he sees a fellow wounded bird who deserves a moment of compassion. But Martha isn’t just a sad sack; she is a convicted stalker. Soon she is emailing Donny hundreds of times a day, harassing his family and his exes, showing up at gigs and outside his house. It’s relentless, it’s terrifying, it’s … flattering?“Reindeer” is candid and disturbing, but not lurid. On lesser shows, nuance can play like a lack of conviction, but here it is the conviction, a rebuttal to pat victimhood narratives. It delves into the absolute pits of human experience not with a sage, well-adjusted perspective but with the mischievous bravado of a prop comic at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. (“Baby Reindeer” is adapted from Gadd’s solo show of the same title, which premiered at the festival.)We see Donny’s act bomb and bomb and bomb; to be a comedian is often one big indignity. Donny recognizes and articulates the dangers of wanting fame, how it warps his judgment but also could solve his problems. (One person knowing your darkest secret is unbearable, but a million people knowing it is stardom.) Agony and attention are bound together here — Look at me! No, not like that! — twin snakes choking the life out of their prey. The show is relentlessly, fascinatingly compassionate, answering the questions of “why would you …” and “why didn’t he just …” with probing clarity. Everyone is shaped by suffering, their choices and identities carved by humiliations large and small.The show is seven half-hour(ish) episodes, and they are the good kind of heavy.SIDE QUESTSIf you want something autobiographical and introspective about masculinity but without the horrors of stalking, all three seasons of “Ladhood” are on Hulu and the Roku Channel.If you actually love the horrors of stalking and want to add in serial murder and sultry whispers, all four seasons of “You” are on Netflix. (Only the first three are good.)If you want another fabulous show that started out at Edinburgh, it is always a good time to watch “Fleabag.” Both perfect seasons are on Amazon. More

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    Prince Harry Hits the Polo Field in Front of Netflix Cameras

    The Duke of Sussex competed in a match in South Florida the day after the announcement that he will be working on a new polo-related Netflix project.In front of rolling cameras and a crowd of nearly 300 guests, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, barreled toward one end of a polo field in South Florida on Friday.“The Duke of Sussex may score a goal!” an announcer cried through a loudspeaker at the Royal Salute Polo Challenge to Benefit Sentebale, which was attended by spectators including Serena Williams and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and by film crews with Netflix. The streamer is producing a polo-related project with Harry and Meghan that was announced on Thursday and that will be filmed in Wellington, an affluent area near Palm Beach known for its equestrian scene.The announcer and many in the crowd groaned audibly when Harry missed the shot. He was wearing a blue and white jersey with the No. 2 on it, along with a logo for Sentebale, a charitable organization he founded to support children in the African countries Lesotho and Botswana, and a logo for Royal Salute, a whisky brand and a sponsor of the invitation-only charity match involving three teams.The event took place at the Grand Champions Polo Club and its organizers included Melissa and Marc Ganzi, members of Wellington’s polo community as well as the founders of the World Polo League and the owners of the Grand Champions club. The Ganzis also own the Santa Rita Polo Farm in Wellington and the Aspen Valley Polo Club in Colorado. Mr. Ganzi is the chief executive of Digital Bridge, an investment firm formerly known as Colony Capital, where he succeeded Thomas J. Barrack Jr., the chairman of former President Donald J. Trump’s inaugural committee.Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Serena Williams were among the spectators at the event.Rebecca Blackwell/Associated PressHarry, 39, one of the highest-profile polo players in the world, competed in the match with other stars of the sport like the renowned Argentine player Adolfo Cambiaso; the English player Malcolm Borwick, an ambassador for Royal Salute; and Nacho Figueras, the Argentine athlete who has regularly faced off against Harry on polo fields and whose career has made him a face not only of the sport but also of Ralph Lauren, a brand that has intertwined its identity with polo.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    As ‘Sex and the City’ Ages, Some Find the Cosmo Glass Half-Empty

    As the show became more widely available on Netflix, younger viewers have watched it with a critical eye. But its longtime millennial and Gen X fans can’t quit.Most weeks, hundreds of people board a “Sex and the City” themed bus in Manhattan that takes them to the show’s most recognizable sites: Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment, her favorite brunch spot, a sex shop in the West Village. The tour usually ends with — what else? — a Cosmopolitan.“It never gets old,” said Georgette Blau, the owner of On Location Tours. It’s a three-and-a-half-hour entry into an aspirational world many of the riders had been watching for decades, she said.Twenty years since the series finale of “Sex and the City” aired, a new generation of television watchers has grown into adulthood. After all of the episodes were released on Netflix this month, media watchers wondered how the show — and Carrie’s behavior — might hold up for Gen Z.Would they be able to handle the occasional raunchiness of the show, the sometimes toxic relationships? Were the references outdated? “Can Gen Z Even Handle Sex and the City?” Vanity Fair asked. (For its part, Gen Z seems to vacillate between being uninterested and lightly appalled about what they consider to be a period piece.)The show had a very different effect on its longtime fans, many of them a generation or two older. When it aired, “Sex and the City” changed the conversation around how women dated, developed friendships and moved about the world in their 30s and 40s.Even if some of the show’s character arcs aged poorly, many of its original fans still relate to Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda, no matter how unrealistic it may have been to live on the Upper East Side with a walk-in closet full of Manolo Blahniks on the salary of a weekly newspaper columnist.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Five Action Movies to Stream Now

    This month’s picks include brotherly revenge, ghoulish specters and more.‘24 Hours with Gaspar’Stream it on Netflix.A taut revenge action fable, the Indonesian director Yosep Anggi Noen’s “24 Hours with Gaspar” features scintillating choreography. For years Gaspar (Reza Rahadian) has been searching for his childhood best friend, Kirana (Shofia Shireen), who was kidnapped and sold by her sex-trafficking father, Wan Ali (Iswadi Pratama). To find answers, Gaspar, a detective, works with a fight club owner named Agnes (Shenina Cinnamon), a strategy that works well until the device that helps Gaspar’s heart function is broken in an electrifying fight, eloquently lit to capture the silhouettes of limber bodies swinging to deadly effect. Now he has only 24 hours to live.The second half of Noen’s film is a heist flick: Gaspar cobbles together an unlikely team to rob Wan Ali’s jewelry store where a legendary black box capable of granting any wish is rumored to reside. The film culminates in a rugged all-out brawl at a fight club, which is crosscut with Gaspar confronting Wan Ali in a fight that’s emblematic of the film’s existential poeticism.‘Anti-Drug Operation’Stream it on Hi-Yah!Spanning 71 minutes, “Anti-Drug Operation,” by the Chinese director Yan Yuchao, packs a big punch in a small package. After the sudden murder of their mother, two young brothers take separate paths: One becomes the drug-busting cop Captain Lin (Li Bin); the other, Lin Lang (Lang Feng), becomes a drug lord. The plot follows the brothers as adults, as Captain Lin tries to save his sibling before the dangerous gangster Zhong Hu (Xiao Mi) — the man who killed their mother — murders him.Despite their different moral codes, the brothers share a bond that eventually puts both in danger, leading to a major raid. Slowed to the speed of molasses, a scene at a rural narcotics lab becomes a site for high drama. Yan shoots oblique angles that accentuate the fighting power of Captain Lin and Lin Lang to devastating effect.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Mike Tyson to Fight Jake Paul in Match on Netflix

    The July bout between Mr. Tyson, the former world champion, and Mr. Paul, the influencer turned boxer, is part of Netflix’s push into “sports-adjacent” live events.At age 58, Mike Tyson will be getting back in the boxing ring.Mr. Tyson, the former world heavyweight champion, whose career was marred by issues in and out of the ring, will take on the social media influencer turned boxer Jake Paul on July 20 in a match that will be streamed live on Netflix, the company announced on Thursday.The bout, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, will be the first fight for Mr. Tyson since 2020, when he and Roy Jones Jr., also a former world boxing champion, fought to a draw in an exhibition match.The event will be another step in Netflix’s aggressive push into live “sports-adjacent programming,” which has the potential to draw large audiences without the kind of investment that streaming games from professional sports leagues requires. The company recently reached a multibillion-dollar, 10-year deal for the exclusive rights to stream World Wrestling Entertainment’s flagship weekly wrestling show, “Raw.”The made-for-streaming boxing spectacle was brought about through a partnership between Netflix and Mr. Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions, the company he established in 2021 with Nakisa Bidarian to disrupt combat sports. He and Mr. Tyson will be paid about the same for the fight, but the parties would not reveal the amount.Mr. Paul, 27, began boxing in 2018 and has seen his star rise on his way to a 9-1 record. His last fight was on Saturday night, when he stopped Ryan Bourland in the first round.Jake Paul, left, defeated Ryan Bourland on Saturday to improve his boxing record to 9-1.Al Bello/Getty ImagesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    2024 SAG Awards Red Carpet: See the Best Fashion Looks

    Lily Gladstone, Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie led the celebrity fashion brigade.A few short months ago, members of the Screen Actors Guild wore jeans, shorts and T-shirts while carrying picket signs in the last days of a lengthy strike. On Saturday, they were at their red-carpet best as they arrived at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles for the 30th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards.Before the ceremony, which is streaming on Netflix for the first time, Lily Gladstone, Jeremy Allen White, Margot Robbie, Cillian Murphy, Selena Gomez, Ali Wong, Ayo Edebiri and a host of other film and television stars took a moment to pose on the red carpet. The looks ran the gamut, from sober black and white to the wildly colorful. Scroll on to see the full celebrity fashion report.Lily Gladstone, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a leading role for “Killers of the Flower Moon.”Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressCillian Murphy, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role for “Oppenheimer.”Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMargot Robbie, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a leading role for “Barbie.”Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesColman Domingo, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role for “Rustin.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAnne Hathaway, a presenter.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressIssa Rae, one of the hosts (with Kumail Nanjiani) of the SAG show.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAli Wong, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a TV movie or limited series for “Beef.”Caroline Brehman/EPA, via ShutterstockJeremy Allen White, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a comedy series for “The Bear.”Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCarey Mulligan, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a leading role for “Maestro.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesJeffrey Wright, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role for “American Fiction.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesDa’Vine Joy Randolph, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a supporting role for “The Holdovers.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesBradley Cooper, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a leading role for “Maestro.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesSterling K. Brown, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a supporting role for “American Fiction.”Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressEmily Blunt, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a supporting role for “Oppenheimer.”Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressDanielle Brooks, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a supporting role for “The Color Purple.”Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesPenélope Cruz, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a supporting role for “Ferrari.”Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressSelena Gomez of “Only Murders in the Building,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesHalle Bailey of “The Color Purple,” a nominee for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesElaine Welteroth, a host of Netflix’s red-carpet preshow.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressTan France, a host of the red-carpet preshow, and his outrageous bow tie.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressAyo Edebiri, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a comedy series for “The Bear.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAriana Greenblatt of “Barbie,” a nominee for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesSheryl Lee Ralph of “Abbott Elementary,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesMeryl Streep of “Only Murders in the Building,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAmerica Ferrera of “Barbie,” a nominee for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesTracee Ellis Ross of “American Fiction,” a nominee for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesReese Witherspoon of “The Morning Show,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Mike Blake/ReutersGreta Lee of “The Morning Show,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressLaverne Cox wore a vintage Alexander McQueen piece as part of her ensemble.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressElizabeth Debicki, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a drama series for “The Crown,” in Giorgio Armani.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressPedro Pascal, nominated for outstanding performance by an actor in a drama series for “The Last of Us.”Caroline Brehman/EPA, via ShutterstockTyler James Williams of “Abbott Elementary,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesChris Perfetti of “Abbott Elementary,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesErika Alexander of “American Fiction,” a nominee for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesBrie Larson, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a TV movie or limited series for “Lessons in Chemistry.”Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesUzo Aduba, nominated for outstanding performance by an actress in a TV movie or limited series for “Painkiller.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesJessica Chastain, a presenter, in Giorgio Armani.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesKelley Curran of “The Gilded Age,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBen Ahlers, a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series, wore an outfit beyond the wildest sartorial dreams of the character he plays on “The Gilded Age.”Mike Blake/ReutersKaren Pittman of “The Morning Show,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDominic Sessa, a relative newcomer to the red carpet, dressed in black to represent “The Holdovers.”Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesMatty Matheson of “The Bear,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Mike Blake/ReutersHannah Leder of “The Morning Show,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressEdwin Lee Gibson of “The Bear,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAlan Ruck of “Succession,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAuliʻi Cravalho of “Mean Girls.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesLinda Emond of “Only Murders in the Building,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Mike Blake/ReutersMichael Cyril Creighton of “Only Murders in the Building,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesCorey Hawkins of “The Color Purple,” a nominee for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesWilliam Belleau of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesCara Jade Myers of “Killers of the Flower Moon.”Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesNestor Carbonell of “The Morning Show,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesTaissa Farmiga of “The Gilded Age,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesZachary Golinger of “Barry,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Jordan Strauss/Invision, via Associated PressJuno Temple of “Ted Lasso,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Valerie Macon/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRobert Wisdom of “Barry,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Caroline Brehman/EPA, via ShutterstockThe writer and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon.Caroline Brehman/EPA, via ShutterstockAndre Hyland of “Barry,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Caroline Brehman/EPA, via ShutterstockAnthony Carrigan of “Barry,” a nominee for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.Frazer Harrison/Getty Images More