“Pillion” is the BDSM Christmas Movie You Need
There is a growing subset of film watchers who believe sex has no place in movies. Harry Lighton’s Pillion will certainly have those people clutching their pearls. Lead actor Alexander Skarsgård has taken to referring to the film as a “dom-com” in his press tour and he’s right. The film has more in common with a mild, mumblecore comedy than all of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, despite the fact that Pillion also focuses on a BDSM relationship. What Pillion, adapted from the 2020 novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, understands better than Fifty Shades is how the BDSM community can be a safe place for people to discover themselves.
courtesy of A24
On the surface, Colin (Harry Melling) is not what one would call an adventurous guy. He’s a parking enforcement officer who sings in a barbershop quartet in his free time. His mom (Lesley Sharp) encourages him to find a partner, but Colin struggles to connect with anyone. The answer to his isolation comes in the form of a biker, Ray (Skarsgård), who wordlessly slides him a note at a bar. The note is a time and place, nothing more. The two begin a dominant-submissive relationship that brings Colin out of his shell in ways he didn’t expect.
Pillion opens to a black screen and the roar of a motorcycle engine revving. The sound crescendos to a screaming volume before it fades into an Italian pop song. We immediately understand who Colin and Ray are. It’s Ray’s motorcycle on the highway that passes Colin and his catchy pop song, but the audience sees the bit of intrigue that flits across Colin’s face as he watches Ray weave in and out of traffic. He’s curious about the life of a biker, not realizing that Ray is part of a larger community of leather clubs and BDSM.
Lighton’s Pillion is the exploration of a young man coming into his own through his sexuality. What he’s into sexually is a dynamic that is understood in one’s self and in the context of another person. That’s why the argument of no sex in movies doesn’t hold water. Film exists for people to make sense of themselves and the lives of others. You may have no interest in the leather BDSM scene, but someone out there may find this community through film and better understand their wants. Not just purely sexually, but holistically. That’s what Pillion understands so well. Colin’s relationship with Ray is also a relationship with himself. He learns the boundaries of what he likes and what he doesn’t. That’s one of the essential goals of being alive. To find the things that excite us, thrill us, and scare us, and learn how much of those emotions we want to handle.
Melling, who most will recognize from his many years as Dudley in the world of Harry Potter, turns in a devastatingly hopeful performance. His Colin is nervous, waiting for the world to happen to him, before he grabs his life by the ass cheeks. As the movie continues, the audience watches his sense of agency develop and sees his own reflections on what he wants out of a BDSM relationship. Melling has a gentleness to him, a hope that love is the point of everything and that he can find that love in himself and with someone else. Skarsgård is quietly imposing. He’s so tall that he hangs over every frame he’s in, a looming presence that’s firm but also allows for a gentle intimacy. The two make for a phenomenal pair that wholly sells the goal of Pillion, one that recognizes the many paths that can lead a person to emotional growth.
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