Pillion Movie Review: In the Name of Love

Pillion, Harry Lighton’s debut feature film, is the most shockingly earnest and wildly vulnerable romance of 2025.

Pillion centers around Colin (Harry Melling, of The Pale Blue Eye), a deeply insecure yet genuinely kindhearted man just trying to make it through the world without inconveniencing anyone too drastically. He works as a parking enforcement officer in a small town while living with his father and his very ill mother, who is in the late stages of terminal cancer. In his free time, he sings in a barbershop quartet and while he tries to put himself out there both romantically and socially, he more often finds himself an observer in life rather than an active participant. 

This all changes on Christmas Eve when Colin, on a terrible date after performing with the quartet at a local pub, lays his eyes on the effortlessly enigmatic and uncontrollably handsome Ray (Alexander Skarsgård, of Eric LaRue). While Colin is immediately smitten by Ray, it seems he doesn’t even register in Ray’s world. As Colin observes the scene in the pub, he comes to understand Ray is a part of a queer biker gang. In seeing the gang’s dynamic, Colin longs to find his sense of belonging in a community as accepting as this. 

As Colin approaches the bar to order him and his ill-matched date another drink, Ray speaks over him, commanding the attention of the bartender first. He then slams change down on the bar and looks to Colin. Colin, understanding what is being asked of him, counts the coins and hands the proper amount to the bartender. Pleased with his obedience, Ray gives Colin information on how to reach him next, which sparks a life-altering dominant-submissive relationship between these unlikely partners. 

While Pillion revolves around a sadomasochistic relationship, at its core it’s an incredibly introspective reflection of the roles shame and insecurity play within modern relationships. Colin endures the humiliation Ray puts him through in order to stay in the warmth of his orbit. He understands how they look standing next to one another and yet feels a particular type of power in the fact that, out of all the men in the world, the unfairly handsome and incredibly hard to please Ray has chosen him.

It doesn’t matter that his life has become all consumed by Ray and his desires because it just means that he is finally a crucial part in someone’s world. While his parents and coworkers are noticeably shocked by the way in which Colin has completely lost himself in Ray, Colin believes he has finally found the type of love everyone wants: a love that is all-encompassing and impossibly fiery. 

In the wake of their disagreements, flights and miscommunications, Colin clings to the bits of Ray that show he may care more about Colin than he claims. Ray calling their dynamic a relationship, no matter what nasty aggression was said before and after that declaration, is enough to keep Colin committed to trying to please Ray, however he can. It is a true testament to how we cling to the smallest, most docile crumbs of what we want to believe is a good relationship when we know, deep down, we are really in a bad one. 

Lighton’s writing is disarmingly funny and feels impossibly vulnerable. Through Colin and Ray’s relationship, he questions the morality of purposeful humiliation, the bravery of blind vulnerability and the power of pure desire. 

The casting and performances of both Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård are some of this year’s strongest. While you may think it’s Melling’s quiet meekness that makes him the perfect Colin, it really is his overwhelming desire, sitting just below his surface, that makes his performance truly singular. For Skarsgård, this feels like a role that was handcrafted to show his ability to completely dominate while slowly revealing himself. The chemistry between Melling and Skarsgård sets the screen completely aflame. 

Pillion is this year’s biggest cinematic surprise. While it presents itself as a daring, psychosexual thriller, to claim that’s all this film is does it a great disservice. Lighton’s story is raw and enthralling and will have you seeing parts of yourself on screen that you thought no one would ever be able to see. It expertly highlights the ways in which we both lose and find ourselves in the wake of a whirlwind romantic relationship. 

Pillion screened at the New York Film Festival on October 4-12, 2025 and will be released in U.S. theaters in February 2025. Though the U.K. & Ireland release date is TBA, the film will be screened at the BFI London Film Festival on October 18, 2025.