Review: ‘Pillion’ shows the power, joy, and hilarity of submission
2026 / Dir. Harry Lighton
Rating: 4/5
Watch if you like: Secretary, The Duke of Burgundy, Alexander Skarsgård’s abs, and other “bits.”
Colin (Harry Melling, Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter movies) isn’t your typical sadsack, but he doesn’t have a whole lot going on in his life either. His job is writing tickets in a parking garage, he sings in a corny barbershop quartet, and occasionally gets set up on awkward dates by his supportive mother. Then, on one lonely Christmas Eve at the local pub, biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) slips him instructions to meet him in the town square on Christmas night and take a stroll to a nearby alley in one of the many hilarious and boundary-pushing scenes that make the genuinely erotic Pillion a surprisingly tender and endearing watch.
When Ray resurfaces months later, he takes Colin on the back of his motorcycle to his apartment, demands that Colin start cooking his dinner, and gives him a list of chores. While uncertain, Colin willingly complies and enjoys their arrangement. Before long, he’s shaved his head, wears edgier clothes, and a padlocked, chain-link collar (Ray keeps the key around his neck at all times). And from this position of “submission,” he learns to become assertive and stop living his life passively.
Though Skarsgård plays Ray like the typical stern dom character, Pillion wisely sidesteps BDSM movie stereotypes, creating a lived-in portrait of the people who practice it while keeping the overall story and humanity in check. Characters are never reduced to being nihilistically sadistic or kinky due to a mental illness, and Colin and Ray don’t frequent seedy biker bars or dark dungeons. Ray’s usually decked out in a bikesuit that wouldn’t be too out of place in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and he likes to go on camping trips with his other biker buddies who are all in D/S dynamics, but of very different sorts (a fellow sub, at one point, asks Colin if he’s OK with Ray never breaking character and never kissing him).
That humanity shines through in the film’s use of humor, whether it’s Colin’s awkwardness or situational humor, as in an absurd sequence where Ray and Colin wrestle to Tiffany’s “I Think We’re Alone Now,” without ever making their lifestyle the butt of the joke. Likewise, director Harry Lighton (making his feature-length debut) and cinematographer Nick Morris masterfully create a truly sexy movie. When Colin rides pillion on Ray’s bike, we feel the sensuality and fully understand what Colin is experiencing while holding onto Ray. Pillion isn’t pornographic by any means, but it’s not afraid to openly depict their sexuality and in a way that having a double Prince Albert piercing feels “normal” by the end of the movie.
Pillion isn’t an especially dialogue-heavy work, requiring Harry Melling to truly embody Colin and make sure we always understand his headspace. Through often subtle looks, we understand the devotion Colin feels toward Ray and the pride and happiness he experiences when he’s made Ray satisfied. It’s truly a special performance Melling delivers, particularly when he’s required to balance both sincerity and comedy, as well as show Colin’s emotional growth as he comes to desire and demand more from Ray.
This is a smart, clever, well-crafted movie that offers a true representation of a highly stereotyped and often dismissed queer subculture and so much more. Pillion is, above all, a heartfelt, hilarious portrait of self-discovery and of finding your own way through life. In this day and age, that’s more important than ever.