First time feature writer and director Harry Lighton takes a big swing with his debut feature with Pillion in the incredibly sweet and endearing, gay BDSM biker movie Pillion starring Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgard. Pillion is surprisingly heartfelt and emotional, while leaning into the tendencies and strides of a dramatic romance but venturing into another direction while never feeling exploitative or over the top, continuing to wear its heart on its sleeve and capture the audience and even manage to pack a few laughs along the way. The strongest element is the chemistry shared between Melling and Skarsgard including the limits that they manage to get pushed to by and for each other. Pillion shocks and delights audiences with moments of hilarity, humility, angst, and self worth in a truly eye opening and engaging debut that proves Lighton is certainly a voice to look out for.
Pillion focuses on Colin (Melling) whose just sort of lost in life, he’s openly gay and his family accepts him they just don’t know why he hasn’t met anyone. He has a rather mundane boring job, he works as a parking attendant and sings barbershop quartet at the local watering hole. One night while singing quartet he is going around getting tips, approaches Ray (Skarsgard) who cannot even bother lifting his head, and the night goes on. Later that evening, Ray approaches the bar while Colin is trying to order, tells the bartender he wants three bags of crisps, and looks at Colin to count his money, give it to the bartender, and then give him the crisps. Colin, confusingly does, and thus this sparks an interest in Colin from Ray to be his submissive, something Colin doesn’t seem to have entirely throughout prior to this encounter, and agrees to see where this goes and what it can become. Slowly losing himself and becoming Ray’s submissive – clearly happy in the dynamic but also evidently wanting a *little* more tensions boil over, the two of them have different wants, needs, and desires, and a turbulent third act ascends Pillion into something brilliant that leaves audiences astonished.
Harry Lighton creates a tense, beautiful, haunting movie that feels like a seasoned writer and director behind the paper and camera, with his adaptation of Adam Mars-Jones book, Box Hill, that is only further well executed by the remarkable performances from Skarsgard and Melling. Melling who plays the submissive incredibly well, and believable nonetheless, while finding his boundaries, comfort levels, and understanding he is juxtaposing Skarsgard who is nearly relentless in ever lowering his guard, refusing to bend the knee, and when he is ever feeling out of his boundaries or comfort zone immediately retracts and tries to regain control shows both sides of what could be a toxic relationship (*** if not in the situation they both agreed to, they are in a dom/sub relationship – this is how it works) and the understanding of the world that Melling finds himself now invested in, creates a pathway for those unaware of how these submissive relationships work but also creates a beautiful portrait for the audience to get lost in regarding self-love, care, and value. Pillion may make you submit to its whim, but it will surely dominate your mind after it ends.
