I honestly had no idea what to expect from a movie described as a “gay BDSM rom-com”. Or “dom-com”, for short. But it was getting really great reviews so I figured I should check it out. Pillion is the feature directorial debut from writer/director Harry Lighton. I have since learned that “pillion” is a term for someone who rides on the back of a motorcycle, sometimes called “to ride pillion”. It is also UK queer slang for a bottom. Very fitting for a story about a gay biker gang. But while a lot of these words and descriptions on their own scream transgressive and salacious, Pillion isn’t going for shock value or pushing boundaries. It’s a love story that just happens to be set against the world of BDSM. 

Based on the 2020 novel “Box Hill” by Adam Mars-Jones, Pillion stars Harry Melling as a timid young gay man named Colin, living at home with his parents. Colin then meets Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a biker who later takes him on as his sexual submissive. Ray belongs to a sub/dom gay biker club in which master and servant roles are firmly established, but not every couple is as strict about the rules as Ray. As Colin grows more comfortable with and confident in himself, his relationship, and the community, he learns about his own boundaries and desires and begins to ask for more, having developed real feelings for Ray. Ray clearly cares for Colin but is emotionally closed off and can only show love in his own way. Is Colin’s hopeless devotion to Ray enough for the both of them?

The movie never stops to explain to any characters or to the audience how these dom/sub relationships work. I like that the movie trusts the audience to figure it out and to draw our own conclusions. Also, the intention of the film isn’t to educate, although the creators were careful to do their research and portray this community with respect. They worked closely with the GBMCC (Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club) and many members of the group were even in the film playing bikers and pillions. While dom/sub relationships might look abusive to outsiders, the successful ones are built on boundaries, consent, and respect from both sides. I can’t pretend to know and understand the intricacies of these relationships. Harry Melling even told Variety, “We spoke to one woman after a screening who was really interested in talking about consent — about how in some relationships, a contract is drawn up to establish the rules, and how that didn’t happen in Pillion. It’s interesting, because there are just so many different versions of how these relationships can work.” There’s no right or wrong way to do it. It’s whatever works for you. This particular dom/sub relationship finds Colin cooking, cleaning, sleeping on the floor, and never kissing Ray. It’s degrading (that’s kind of the point) but yet Colin grows stronger than ever. Before Ray, he was lost. Ray gives him a sense of purpose, a community with the biker gang, and liberates Colin from the burden of having to make decisions for himself. Maybe it’s not “love” in the traditional sense, but it’s the first real emotional and sexual connection of Colin’s life. Through being subservient, Colin actually learns about his own individual identity and what he wants in life.

Pillion definitely doesn’t shy away from the BDSM and sexual parts of the story. But it’s never exploitative or sensationalized. The sex scenes are all stark and honest, even awkward which somehow made them more authentic and endearing. That’s true of the movie as a whole. There’s such a sincerity in the tone that makes everything feel oddly sweet. The awkwardness also lends itself to some cringe-comedy mixed with wry humor. The movie presents a completely foreign concept (to most people) in this sub/dom biker relationship, and pulls out the elements that feel universal and relatable and that you’d find in most rom-coms: longing, devotion, sense of self and identity, and, above all in a rom-com, unrequited love. Although if you ask Harry Melling, he wouldn’t call Pillion a rom-com, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I don’t think we’ve done a rom-com but the film uses rom-com tropes, for sure, and then sort of turns them into something else, which is what I found so appealing about the script. The thing I loved about it was the fact that it feels familiar in terms of its structure. It has that rom-com structure, but it’s looking into something that is unfamiliar to a lot of people.” Alexander Skarsgård said in the same interview, “I think at the core of it, hopefully, is the love story — or whatever you want to call it. The relationship is actually very accessible. It might not be your traditional rom-com, but it’s structured in a way that I think is relatable. I think most people, regardless of who you fancy, will find Colin’s journey interesting and beautiful, and relatable. The feeling of falling in love for the first time and exploring that, figuring out what you want in life and from a partner — I think everyone can relate to that, whether or not you’re into BDSM.” No matter what you call it or how you define the film, I think the overall takeaway is that love and all the many complicated feelings around it are the same for everyone, however you choose to express it.

Pillion really is a one-of-a-kind film. It’s awkward and tough. It’s sweet and brazen. It’s funny and heartbreaking. It’s understated and explicit. There are some beautiful romantic sequences and there are a lot of leather sounds. It contradicts itself over and over again but never feels false or out of place. I feel like I’m still processing it. I think I liked it? I was definitely entertained, never knew what was coming next, and invested in these characters. The two leads gave incredibly vulnerable performances, both physically and emotionally. But most of all I think I was just impressed at how singular the movie is in its tone and how clearly it was able to communicate these themes of love and desire within the context of the BDSM biker world instead of pushing against it or tearing it down. A really interesting movie if you feel like checking it out!

2026 Count: 11 movies, 4 seasons of television, 0 specials