Film Review: A24’s Pillion is the Stealth Rom Com I Never Knew I Needed to See

Inspired by the book Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, Pillion is a refreshing romantic comedy set in a gay BDSM biker community in Bromley, UK. Colin (Harry Melling, Wolf Hall) lives a humble life as a traffic warden, writing parking tickets and singing in a barbershop quartet with his father, Pete (Douglas Hodge, The Great). His life is forever changed when he randomly meets Ray (Alexander Skarsgård, True Blood) and unexpectedly becomes his submissive partner in a hot, funny, awkward, and surprisingly tender BDSM relationship. Writer/director Harry Leighton shifts the time period from the 1970s in the book to the present, allowing the film to avoid the usual tropes about queerness in film. As Colin embarks on this wild journey of sexual liberation through submission, the conflict that comes up is that Ray is clear that their relationship is strictly practicing BDSM, but Colin gets swept up in his feelings for his first relationship. I love this aspect of this film.

During their first encounter, Ray is crystal clear about what he wants from Colin and this relationship. For Colin, it’s amazing that someone like Ray would ever be attracted to him. I absolutely loved the construction of this film. Writer/director Adam Mars-Jones draws on familiar romantic-comedy ideals and places a queer male relationship at the center of this emotional story.

This is Adam Mars-Jones’ first feature film, and it is fantastic. Instead of taking Colin’s situation as a thirty-year-old man who lives with his parents and has never been in a relationship as a kind of pathos, his situation feels totally relatable. Colin’s parents, Pete and Peggy (Lesley Sharp, Scott & Bailey), are demonstratively accepting of Colin’s queerness. They encourage him to find a boyfriend and are so sweet and excited when they meet Ray. Another thing I loved about Colin was his earnest hopefulness, which draws you in and breaks your heart, because you know Ray could destroy him at any point if he wanted to.

With Ray, I saw an interesting layer of complexity. Ray is a six-foot-four, handsome, brick-house of a man with blond hair and blue eyes at the top of the caste system, and the world instantly places him on a pedestal as an object of desire and a kind of trophy. There is a power that comes with being placed in the position of being the object of desire, and I saw Ray using the BDSM biker community as a way to protect himself from the expectations that the world places on him. But Ray chooses Colin, and I think Ray is attracted to the purity and openness Colin embodies. There’s a moment where Colin consents to something, and in the middle of the act, Ray sees that Colin can’t handle it and is being harmed, and he has the emotional intelligence to ease off and take care of Colin in his way. Just lovely. Special kudos to Intimacy Coordinator Robbie Taylor Hunt for crafting scenes of intimacy that were vivid but not gratuitous and moved the story forward. Every touch had meaning, and even without words, you could see how consent was not binary. Each scene that involved intimate content felt real because it was sometimes clumsy, and the characters communicated with one another, moving the story forward.

As their relationship developed, I fell deeper in love with Colin, became protective of him, and got really pissed off at Ray. But through Harry Melling’s performance, I understood why he was exploring this experience with Ray. Then there’s a specific scene where Ray reveals more, and I understood the dynamic between these two in a totally different way. Not only is Alexander Skarsgård scalding hot in this film, but he is also a fascinating actor who plays Ray with layers, nuance, mystery, and a deep sadness that is never addressed, and that’s okay. Pillion explores how we escape from reality into bliss, how escapism in relationship make human beings come alive, and how we escape desperation through embodiment with a partner. There’s a montage scene I loved in the film when Colin is living his everyday life away from Ray, knowing he gets to go home to this hunk of a man, one anyone who has ever been totally besotted by a gorgeous partner they never thought they’d ever get can relate to. I loved this scene because it showed us what that kind of romantic bliss looks like. I also loved this film for its ending, which leaves you to think about the story with agency. Nothing is spoon-fed in this film; it captures the nuances of relationships so realistically, and I absolutely loved it.

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Pillion is certified fresh 5 out of 5 tomatoes.