PILLION

Directing: A-
Acting: A-
Writing: A-
Cinematography: B+
Editing: A

What a time of dualities we live in, where we live in a country under constant attack on progressive values, the embrace of the full spectrum of of queer expression being just one among countless. There’s a strange dissonance to the combination of defiant resistance to the mainstreaming of prejudice and bigotry, and the very existence of a film like Pillion.

Telling stories that feature queer joy, pointedly in the place of an endless parade of queer tragedy in all mediums of storytelling, is a thing these days. Pillion is representative of a deeply specific sort of queer joy, the kind experienced by those who enjoy consensual debasement and dominance, maybe even a bit of pain. This is far more common than many might thing, queer or not. This film, in its way, heralds the broadening of this awareness.

The pairing of Alexander Skarsgård and Harry Melling is a fascinating one. Melling is still most well known as the fat cousin of Harry Potter—something he couldn’t be further from now, a handsome man of 36. Skarsgård, now 49, is still so hot it defies reason. This is only referenced a couple of times in Pillion, though there’s a slightly sad moment when Melling’s character, Colin, is told that Skarsgård’s character, Ray, puts Colin’s features into sharp relief. It’s hard for anyone to compete with Skarsgård on a visual level to be honest. This is a guy who is not only incredibly hot, but knows how to be hot. When Ray sidles up to Colin for the first time at a bar, giving him a hard, smoldering stare, I thought: I would also do whatever he wanted.

One might think that this is an odd pairing for a multitude of reasons, except for the genuine chemistry they have with each other. And one of the many great things about Pillion is how it depicts a BDSM biker community, and it is a “community” in a very real sense of the word, with genuine friendships and emotional connections. There just also happens to be camping trips with communal hard sex acts.

I actually think this is important, the unusual frankness of not just the sex in Pillion, but very specifically the queer sex—and even more specifically, the BDSM sex, among Ray’s biker friends if not necessarily between Ray and Colin, which is much more orientated toward a maste/slave kink (as Colin noes, “I’ve been told I have an aptitude for devotion”). Colin is very naive as he wades into this world, but as the story unfolds, we see subtle but pointed nods to notions of consent and boundaries. When Ray unzips his pants in front of another sub, that sub first looks over to Colin to make sure it’s okay.

And what a great achievement Pillion is, to have such an earnest and sincere love story within this context. Colin’s parents are so on board with his sexuality that, in the opening scene, he’s on a blind date his own mother set up. Eventually Colin’s parents have difficulty understanding him, but it has nothing to do with his gayness and everything to do with the dynamics of his relationship with Ray, and how Colin will drop everything for him, or wait on him hand and foot. But how do you explain this kind of relationship, especially with your parents, and especially if you’re so new at it yourself that you’re learning as you go along?

The story is told from Colin’s perspective, but Alexander Skarsgård’s performance deserves special commendation. We never learn a lot about Ray, except that he evidently has intimacy issues, and as a result he is very resistant to dropping the dom/sub routine. This becomes the source of conflict, as Colin realizes he loves living this way, just not all the time. His request to “take one day off a week” becomes a salient plot point, and turns Pillion into a beautiful meditation on setting boundaries. Colin gets his first taste of this with a fellow sub who observes that Ray doesn’t allow kissing, and the guy says, “I couldn’t handle no kissing.” Indeed, the first time we see that character, he is giving his dom a passionate kiss.

Pillion is a film that could easily be misunderstood by the deeply ignorant, but thankfully not just sex, but kink is now widely regarded as things to be embraced without shame. This film is broadly about the full expression of self and sexuality, and specifically about how to approach it in an emotionally healthy way. It would be accurate to call this a “coming of age” story, even though—thankfully—it’s not about kids. This is about how it’s never to late to discover your full self, even if that self is fulfilled by sleeping on the rug and cooking all the meals.

It does feel worth noting that although Pillion is largely billed as a romantic comedy—albeit a very frankly sexual one—I found it to be much more of a romance than a comedy. I got a few chuckles out of it, but this movie is not particularly funny. It is, however, very sweet—even heartwarming in the end. I found a bit of implausibility in some of Ray’s characterization, but this also added to his mystique. If only Colin had been introduced to a dom top who was more in touch with the separation of role playing with reality, or particularly with more of an intuition for actual guidance in unfamiliar territory—but, that story would perhaps not have been as compelling.

Underneath all the BDSM trappings, Pillion follows pretty familiar beats: a character loses his way a bit and then finds his way back again. All that matters is how pleased and happy we are for him once he gets there. This is a rare case where you can believe the hype, because this is a truly great piece of work by first time feature film director Harry Lighton, and I will be looking forward to what he has to offer next with eager anticipation.

I’m not really into licking boots but for him I get it.

Overall: A-