HARRY MELLING AND ALEXANDER SARSGARD IN PILLION

Boy meets top

You may never have thought BDSM could be like this. For one thing it's very British - well, that works. For this project debut director Harry Lighton has adapted the book Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, but softened the ending and bent some of the rules: the film is warmer than the book. Perhaps it's ultimately just its own thing. Lighton has the benefit of Harry Melling, a child star and a regular of the Harry Potter films, as the meek, obedient Colin who is lucky enough to serve Alexander Skarsgård as the splendid leather motorcycle top Ray, who cracks a smile sometimes. And the film is never harsh or hard. It does have dominance, though. And for its stars, a little charmer and a big, sweet , enigmatic hunk.

Bradshaw nails this film, which came out earlier, better than anyone. It's "something funny and touching and alarming," he wrote, "like a cross between Alan Bennett and Tom of Finland" with perhaps "a tiny smidgen of what could be called a BDSM Wallace and Gromit." That all things gay (and LGBTQ+) are more and more seen on our screens is signaled by the fact that I wrote about a biopic on Tom of Finland nine years ago. But while Americans would only have seen the latter in New York, not all citizens will be likely to rush to watch Pillion. Nonetheless Pillion is a remarkable achievement.

Meet cute is at a place where Colin sings a capella in a harmony group of men dressed in silly suits. Leaving, Ray passes him a note. He is to meet at a parking lot the next day where he will service Ray. Colin, who works issuing parking tickets in Bromley, still lives at home - in his thirties - with his dad Pete (Douglas Hodge) and mum Peggy (Lesley Sharp). She is dying of cancer, but mum and dad are understanding and mum is always setting Colin up with gay dates. Of course he can't tell all about this one, and that he must report for it on Christmas day seems to his mum preposterous (she insists he bring a present, a box of chocolates). When later on Ray is prevailed upon to come to dinner against his better judgment it does not go well. Mum does not approve of him. But he does not care.

What counts is Ray wants submission and Colin has a talent for giving it. At the first home date Colin must cook dinner and watch while Ray eats it, with his big dog beside him, as Colin stands. He must submit to anal intercourse and on departing is told to buy a butt plug because he's too tight.

Does this really happen in a movie? And it's not a porno film? Yes, somehow it does happen and isn't. In fact this is a rather sweet movie, and we shouldn't be surprised that it is. Don't we sort of know by now that by reputation Leathermen are pussycats? Ray is strict about his rules. Colin may sleep nearby if he doesn't snore but he must sleep on the rug, not in his bed.

Later Ray measures Colin for custom leather wear, and with a smile. Then he can be taken, riding pillion (holding on behind on Ray's motorcycle, symbolic of his sub role), to gatherings of Ray's clan, who are known to cavort naked by a lakeside (and being real leather guys cast for the film, aren't beauties, or Tom of Finland hulks) - or may also line up their slaves, butts naked, bent over on a picnic table for servicing.

That it all started out by Ray passing Colin a note (written on a Christmas card) is suggestive of Ray's style because he prefers not to talk much. Watching Colin we feel he knows obedience ideally would mean silence for him too, but he just can't help being chatty, and this provides for lots of humor. Though Pillion has been compared, reasonably, with Maggie Gyllenhaal in Secretary, this is a more lighthearted tale. Not that Ray doesn't mean business!

Maybe some think Pillion provides too much of a happy ending; that Colin is choosing a way that's harder than it's made to look here. But what is the harm in that? We are over the time when gay tales had to be painful or tragic. Perhaps devotees will object that Mr. Melling and Mr. Skarsgård are not real-life BDSM practitioners, or even gay. Or queer. Nonetheless this is one of the more unique and probably one of the best movies of the year. Lighton is a new voice.

Pillion 106 mins., premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes May 18, 2025, winning the section's prize for Best Screenplay. Notable regional launches included its British premiere at BFI London and a festive San Francisco one at a grand reopening of the Castro Theatre. Also Telluride, Zurich, New York, Vancouver, Vienna, Stockholm, Thessaloniki, Glasgow, and other international festivals. UK theatrical opening Nov. 28, 2025; US, Feb. 27, 2026. Metacritic rating: 85%.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.