VALENTINE'S DAY FILM REVIEWS:
PILLION (UK/Ireland 2025) ****
Directed by Harry Lighton
From writer-director Harry Lighton, making his feature debut, PILLION, unconventional love story, following two men who express desire in ways rarely depicted on the big screen. Based on the novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, Pillion stars Harry Melling as Colin, a timid traffic warden from the suburbs, and Alexander Skarsgård
A pillion by definition is the seat for a passenger behind the motorcyclist. This word is, appropriately used as the title of the new BDSM gay romance film.
Colin, an introverted gay man, lives with his parents and works a menial job assigning parking tickets while pursuing his hobby of singing in a barbershop quartet. Colin and his quartet are pretty good, as one of the performances is captured in the story’s introduction. Yes, a musical interlude to contrast the dark BDSM theme of the romance,
The theme is one that many might not be familiar with. This is how the definition of BDSM goes. BDSM is an acronym for Bondage & Discipline, Dominance & Submission, and Sadism & Masochism, representing a consensual spectrum of erotic, role-playing, and physical practices focused on power exchange, trust, and communication. It involves activities like sensation play, restraints, and role-playing, with safety and, for example, safe words being paramount to distinguish it from abuse. For a couch, one is dominant while he otters submissive, and many activities can enhance the sexual act,
One evening at the pub, he slips a note by Ray, an incredibly handsome member of a local biker gang. The two meet on Christmas Day at a high street alleyway, where Ray wordlessly ushers Colin to perform oral sex. Despite a successful hookup, Ray says he isn't often around to see Colin again.
Colin texts Ray, but receives no response for months. Eventually, Ray invites Colin to his home, where Colin is naively initiated into a strict BDSM relationship: Colin cooks, cleans, and shops, sleeps on the floor, and obeys Ray's every command. In return, Colin enjoys an intense but controlled sexual relationship with Ray. Acclimating to Ray's lifestyle, Colin shaves his head and joins the biker gang. Meanwhile, Colin's parents express worry about how little Colin knows about Ray.
PILLION is a different romantic film that opens around Valentine’s Day. The film is described in the press notes as a romantic black comedy. But more important, it is a film which rides its story outside the box, where a BDSM themed film turns both charming and still maintains its uncomfortable yet erotic sexiness.
The story in the book is set from the 70s to the present. Colin’s parents are not the stereotyped ones found in gay films, where they either accept the son’s homosexuality with uneasiness or deny it. In the film, they encourage it, with the parents inviting Ray over for dinner in order to know more about the biker. But things do not go as planned.
It should be noted that the film’s ending differs from the original novel Box Hill (on which the movie is based), where in the book,k Ray does die in a motorcycle accident. The film deliberately changes that plot point, not to be revealed in the review, but the ending is an improvement, making the audience think a bit more and yes, outside the box. PILLION is a brave and still powerful movie, a surprising first feature written and directed byLighten.
PILLION opens February 13th. A must for gay audiences and for straight ones, see it if you dare, and it will be a worthwhile challenge.
Trailer:
