\u201cDo you give?\u201d<\/p>\n
It can be a pertinent question in any relationship, but it\u2019s a particularly poignant one for the BDSM couple of Harry Lighton\u2019s kink-friendly, disarmingly affecting romance \u201cPillion.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Like most lovers, Colin (Harry Melling) and Ray (Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd) have an understanding. OK, sure. Their lines are a little more firmly drawn than most. Colin does all the cooking, sleeps on the floor and wears a locked chair around his neck. (Ray keeps the key around his.) You could say the power balance isn\u2019t quite equitable.<\/p>\n Basically, Colin does whatever Ray wants him to, and is happy doing it. There is, as you might expect, not a small amount of leather involved. Judge if you must, but the arrangement seems to work for them.<\/p>\n Even among the many odd couples to grace our movie screens, Ray and Colin are a singular duo. Fay Wray and King Kong had more in common. Colin is a meek and accommodating parking enforcement officer in Bromley who lives with his parents (Lesley Sharp, Douglas Hodge) and sings in a barbershop quartet. Ray is a mysterious, terse and deadly handsome motorcyclist.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re wondering how they could have ever come together \u2014 most people who encounter them do \u2014 \u201cPillion\u201d begins with a very memorable meet-cute \u2014 memorable because their coming together is almost the exact inverse of romantic-comedy fantasy.<\/p>\n Colin is on the way to a barbershop performance when, from the backseat of a moving car, his eye catches a blur going past. Betty Curtis\u2019 \u201cChariot\u201d swoons on the radio. Later in the pub, they don\u2019t actually meet or even lock eyes, but Ray leaves a note to meet up, on Christmas. The date, if you can call it that, is brief. Ray says hardly a word, but Colin follows him into a dark alley. Licking of boots, and more, ensues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat am I going to do with you?\u201d says Ray afterward.<\/p>\n \u201cWhatever you want, really,\u201d replies Colin, without a trace of guile or shame.<\/p>\n When Colin returns home, his parents are eager for details. \u201cNice chap?\u201d his dad asks.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a question that hovers over \u201cPillion,\u201d which very much takes Colin\u2019s perspective as their relationship deepens \u2014 or at least becomes more codified. Ray says virtually nothing to Colin that isn\u2019t a command. You\u2019d say he treats him like a dog, but Ray at least lets his dog sit on the couch.<\/p>\n We wait for either Colin to break, or Ray\u2019s imperial reign to soften. But it\u2019s also clear that Colin is quite happy. Submissiveness comes naturally to him. He cheerfully quotes Ray telling him he has \u201can aptitude for devotion.\u201d When he clings to Ray\u2019s back on his motorcycle, Colin looks downright blissful. When Ray makes him wrestle, he quickly dominates Colin. Does he give? Happily.<\/p>\n The power struggle, or surrender, of \u201cPillion\u201d makes it perhaps our first \u201cdom-com.\u201d (It\u2019s also, somewhat hysterically, the second domination-themed release from A24, following 2024\u2019s \u201cBabygirl.\u201d<\/a> ) But what makes \u201cPillion,\u201d Lighton\u2019s first feature, such a bewitching experience is its lightness. It\u2019s based on Adam Mars-Jones\u2019 \u201cBox Hill,\u201d but Lighton\u2019s film largely avoids the darker, abusive turns of the novel. Lighton is more keen to enjoy the unfolding dynamics of a relationship in the extreme, one that ultimately, like any other, is guided by needs and wants.<\/p>\n