Pillion acts as an exploration of physical and emotional growth as Harry Lighton leads audiences on a self-discovery journey. Anchored by brilliant performances, the year’s most vulnerable, tender film of the year comes in a kinky, leather package that may surprise some who aren’t familiar with the community of the BDSM world. Pillion highlights the language and framework a BDSM relationship can lay for emotional and intimacy needs.

For anyone easily shocked or not conversed in the world of BDSM, it may surprise them that Harry Lighton’s debut feature film following two men in a BDSM arrangement ends up being a vulnerable, emotional journey of self-discovery, but for anyone familiar with the consensual world of BDSM, this is a pretty great representation within a comedic setting. Pillion is brilliantly sharp as it balances the kink, emotions, and stigma associated with the world of BDSM and his sharp screenplay is perfected by two incredible performances from Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård. Pillion feels incredibly rich, sensitive and quite moving as it explores the pleasure and pain of discovering yourself within this type of relationship. Where many populous films have come to the center of general audiences as a representation of the BDSM community, Pillion nails what makes it a community. 

An experience that transforms you can be the thing to bring a new fire to your soul, make you feel alive. For some of us, that’s falling in love or leaving a toxic job, these transformative experiences can push you in ways you never considered an option for yourself. When we first meet Colin (Melling), his insecurity and lack of consideration for himself feels palpable. While you can see a light in his eye, you can feel himself holding back. After his first, brief, meeting with the intimidating Ray (Skarsgård), you can already sense his itching for change. At the start of their arrangement, that desperation for change is so focused on pleasing Ray and the way Colin feels Ray perceives him. It’s never explicitly verbalized by Colin himself, but through others it is vocalized the physical disparity between the two men. There’s this unconscious behavior from Colin, ultimately before he even realizes he’s in an arrangement and not a typical, romantic relationship, that he wants to be the perfect partner for Ray, he can’t risk losing him. How much are you willing to put up with in order to gain the ideal relationship? At what point is it too much? Or, as it can be in so many first time BDSM arrangements, it evolves into the confidence you bring not only into the relationship, but into the world. 

What Pillion truly excels at for me on a personal level is the internal confusion of what the arrangement is, especially when you aren’t confident with who you are and what you bring to the world. Colin isn’t exactly aware of the framework of the arrangement he enters into with Ray at first. Colin doesn’t have the language to understand the nature or expectations from Ray.

You can sense this weight Colin feels from the outside world, and he grows to find himself within the act of being a submissive as he’s allowed to release that control, gaining a relief from that outside pressure. Giving up control after your day-to-day responsibilities or internal stress and entering into the world of your dom can be quite soothing for someone acting as a submissive. The brilliance of the screenplay from Lighton allows for this relief to feel understood in a safe, nonjudgemental framing for Colin. Pillion through Ray truly nails where dominance can come from for some doms. Many outsiders can think of dom/sub relationship strictly within the act of sex but for many it creates a structure to, in a way, for doms to direct a relationship rather than emotionally participate in it, allowing little room for vulnerability. Through Skarsgård’s best film performance to date, Ray’s implied reasoning for entering these arrangements as a dom acts as a foil to Colin’s journey to self-discovery. The control Ray is able to enforce creates an almost safe space allowing for predictability in a sexual relationship without the risk of emotional vulnerability.  A confusion for anyone outside of these types of arrangements can be the idea of dominance and submissive being a personality type or trait, whereas in reality these can be strategies. This is how some people can deal with emotions, intimacy, power, anxiety and vulnerabilities. Pillion shines a true light on how these types of relationships are never just about the sex. 

Pillion is much more a coming-of-age story than many have expected, and it highlights the strengths of the safety of an arrangement within a dom/sub relationship. The film showcases the language and framework a BDSM relationship can lay for emotional and intimacy needs. It allows someone to find a way to communicate what they need from a romantic relationship, sex, and intimacy but to bring that into their day-to-day. Melling has always been such a brilliant actor but in Pillion, he delivers such an incredible performance as Colin that it’s impossible to imagine anyone else pulling it off. He never is itching for pity or portraying Colin as pathetic, it’s always a yearning for more in life. Where BDSM or dom/sub relationships can be unhealthy is when a person needs that dynamic in order to thrive. You see throughout the film Colin learns and understands the need to not rely on his partner for this relief but the routine of the lifestyle itself. You can see Ray already has mastered that understanding through his experiences, but the self-discovery Colin goes through is alongside his understanding of the submissive role itself. 

Pillion acts as an exploration of physical and emotional growth as Lighton leads audiences on a self-discovery journey. Anchored by brilliant performances, the year’s most vulnerable, tender film of the year comes in a kinky, leather package that may surprise some who aren’t familiar with the community of the BDSM world.

Grade: A

Oscar Prospects:
Nominated: None
Should Have Been Considered: Best Lead Actor (), Best Supporting Actor (Alexander Skarsgård), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing

Where to Watch: In Select Theaters