There’s definitely something in the air at the moment with gay romances being the hottest things out there, not only featuring MLM plotlines, but being directed by gay men who put the action at the heart of the story. Heated Rivalry has all genders, all ages, and all persuasions swooning over what Esther Perel has called a “corrective experience.” On the flip side of the driving- off-into- the- sunset drama, Pillion offers a very different kind of love story, but a love story it definitely is.
Alexander Skarsgård plays the aloof and in control Ray, a member of a sub/dom gay biker club. Pillion refers to the passenger seat on this leather- clad rider’s motorbike, and the position that anyone can find themselves in, taking second place to someone’s else’s desires, and indeed, life, until maybe the tables turn. In queer culture, it is also a word for a bottom, and in this club, power lines are defined by who rides behind who.
In a stunning directorial debut that wowed at Cannes 2025 and on the festival circuit ever since, British filmmaker Harry Lighton has adapted Adam Mars-Jones’ book Box Hill, and where that story was set deep in the 1970s, the action now takes place in modern-day Bromley, a relatively peaceful and green pocket of south London, which will be now forever transformed in the collective screen memory.
Directed by Harry Lighton
Screenplay by Harry Lighton
Produced by Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton
Cinematography Nick Morris
Editing Gareth C. Scales
Music Oliver Coates
Premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2025.
Now showing in Australian cinemas
Starring Alexander Skarsgård, Harry Melling, Lesley Sharp, Douglas Hodge, Anthony Welsh, Jake Shears, Billy King, Paul Tallis, Jake Sharp, Rosie Sheehy, Miranda Bell
Ray meets Colin, played by Harry Melling, in what has already turned into a breakout role for the actor who previously played Dudley Dursley in some Harry Potter movies. The meet-cute happens in a classic English setting- the local pub- with Colin rattling his dorky boater hat around the room for tips at the end of a set performing alongside his dad in a barbershop quartet. Having sat down to a blind date arranged by his terminally ill and chronically charming mother Peggy, played wonderfully by Lesley Sharp, Colin is shortly after approached by Ray, who wants to meet him the following evening at the shop Primark.
Colin is by day a meek and orderly traffic warden, who still lives at home, and is stunned into love, obsession, devotion, and desire by the attentions of the extremely buff Ray. Colin becomes his willing submissive, throwing himself into their relationship, their first festive date turning out to be light on pleasantries and heavy on first- time fellatio.
Lighton spent a weekend with real members of the Gay Bikers Motorcycle Club during research and members from this the UK and Europe’s largest LGBTQ+ inclusive motorcycle club served as advisors on the film, helping craft both biking and sex scenes, and were also cast as members of Ray’s gang.
For an added bonus Scissor Sisters lead Jake Shears makes his own acting debut as another submissive in Ray’s world, and features heavily in a particularly racy group sex scene on a picnic table.
The film is accompanied by an original soundtrack, a sensual and moody score composed by Oliver Coates that fills the subtextual silences with an ambience of strings, keys and pulsating electronics. The broodiness of the soundtrack complements the dark themes and fills the stretches of loneliness felt through Colins unwavering dedication to Ray.
It’s erotic, it’s funny, it’s somberly dramatic, and it’s laced full of British charm. Pillion takes you on a journey of self discovery, sexual awakening, and is a powerful reminder that life’s special sauce comes from expressing yourself, being authentic, and advocating for your own needs and desires.
