The reviews are in for Pillion, and it’s apparently “what Fifty Shades of Grey should have been”.
The debut feature from Harry Lighton (Wren Boys), the gay drama will chronicle the romance between Colin, a “weedy wallflower letting life pass him by” who becomes the submissive of Ray, “the impossibly handsome leader of a motorbike club”.
Harry Melling, known for his performance as Dudley Dursey in the Harry Potter series and as Harry Baltic in The Queen’s Gambit, stars as Colin, while Ray is played by True Blood and Big Little Lies icon Alexander Skarsgård.
The official synopsis for Pillion is as follows: “Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky, queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way,” reads the synopsis.
“But as Colin steps deeper into Ray’s world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is for him. Has he found his calling, or simply swapped one form of suffocation for another?”
On 18 May, Pillion had its world premiere at the Un Certain Regard section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Caméra d’Or. Ahead of the screening, Lighton reportedly told the audience that his aim was to “make you laugh, make you think, make you feel and make you horny”.
The film is a triumphant success, according to critics, with praise aimed at the performances of Skarsgård and Melling, Lighton’s direction and its unexpectedly tender love story. Interestingly, several reviewers also backed up Lighton’s aforementioned “horny” quote, emphasising the intensity and explicitness of the sex scenes.
In The Guardian’s review, writer Peter Bradshaw said Lighton has “created something funny and touching and alarming – 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.”
“It’s basically what Fifty Shades of Grey should have been,” he continued, before revealing a scene in which Ray “orders Colin to meet him behind Primark at 5pm for a blowjob”.
Variety described the film as having “kinky sex, BDSM Alexander Skarsgård and gimp masks” in their headline, while The Hollywood Reporter said Pillion “is less about the shock factor of some very graphic gay kink than the nuances of love, desire and mutual needs within a sub/dom relationship”.
The same publication noted that Ray and Colin’s first sex scene is “less than stellar” as a result of the latter’s lack of experience. Other scenes include Colin “knitted out in ass-less wrestling gear” while wrestling Ray on the floor, being instructed to wear a butt plug and “getting vigorously plowed on a table”.
The Hollywood Reporter also said Pillion is “full of penises”, questioned whether or not they’re prosthetics, and ultimately praised the film as a “cheeky delight” and “unique queer love story”.
Finally, Vanity Fair reported that Pillion “comes complete with orgies, cock rings and boot-licking”.
From Element Pictures, Pillion is based on the novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones. It also stars Douglas Hodge as Pete, Lesley Sharp as Peggy, Anthony Welsh as Darren and Scissor Sisters star Jake Shears as Kevin, another sub.
In October, A24 acquired US distribution rights to the film. A worldwide release date is yet to be announced.
Latest
