Pillion probably isn't the movie you're expecting. If you've read the source material (Box Hill, a modest, devastating novella by Adam Mars-Jones), you'll already have a preconceived idea of what the film's central relationship looks like. If you haven't, you may have seen reviews or social media first reactions dubbing Pillion a rom-com or "feel-good" film (which might raise an eyebrow if you're familiar with Mars-Jones' work). It's not quite either of those things, though, and it's all the better for it.
The film follows Colin (Harry Melling), a lonely, reserved parking attendant who still lives with his parents in the suburbs. After a chance encounter with biker gang leader Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) in a pub on Christmas Eve, Colin finds himself entangled in an intense dominant/submissive relationship that begins with oral sex in an alleyway on Christmas Day. Outsiders are baffled at what devastatingly handsome Ray could see in clumsy Colin, and Colin is, too, initially. "You sort of bring his qualities into relief," another member of the gang tells him.
