Pillion’s premise sets out to turn as many heads as star Alexander Skarsgård did in his leather halter-top ensemble at the film’s BFI premiere. Playfully referred to as a “dom-com”, it’s a peek into the world of BDSM relationships through the lens of a timid young man struggling to find himself. Instead, he finds handsome dom Ray (Skarsgård), leading to plenty of leather, cocks, chains, and reasons for pearl-clutching.

Colin (Harry Melling) is a shy 30-something who meets biker Ray at the bar where he sings in a barbershop quartet. Seeing something in Colin that the timid man clearly hasn’t yet discovered, Ray asks him for a date on Christmas Day. This is no cocoa and snowy kisses a la Hallmark sort of tryst, though. Rather, Colin’s on his knees in an alley sensually licking Ray’s boots and giving fellatio next to a dumpster. While the shocking moment could seem degrading, writer/director Harry Lighton zooms in on Colin’s eyes, downright sparkling with elation and titillation. 

This is how Lighton gets our buy-in to explore their relationship. Based on the 2020 novel Box Hill, Pillion uses the gay, leather BDSM subculture to tell a story of self-discovery and, yes, love. Lighton isn’t really trying to explain anything and everything about the subculture to audiences. It’s likely insane to try. Instead, he brings us inside Colin’s head.

Melling, who’s likely only known to most audiences from his days playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter films, transforms here. He melts into Colin, his close-set, downtrodden eyes become the feature that makes the entire film work. They light up with delight, flit with nervous uncertainty, and soften with increasing self-discovery. Their expressiveness says everything Colin doesn’t have the words for. Even this early in 2026, it’s a contender for the performance of the year.

Lighton’s close-ups not only highlight Melling’s stellar performance but also lend the film an abstract sensuality. Oh, sure, there’s plenty of R-rated explicitness to go around, but it’s the extreme close-ups of hands that stand out. Colin’s fingers gripping Ray as he rides behind him on Ray’s motorcycle fill the screen, giving Mr. Darcy’s infamous hand flex a run for its money. A hand on a knee. A moment of tender care after an accidental burn.

The real beauty of these more traditionally romantic moments, though, is how Lighton doesn’t feel the need to divorce them from the world of BDSM. The romance exists within a BDSM relationship, not apart from it. It seems everyone involved in the film knows, on some level, that the audience will approach it from the perspective of Colin’s loving mom (Lesley Sharp). When she sees the hold Ray has over her son, it unnerves her. As she tells the dom outright, “I’m not sure I like the way you talk to my son.”. Ray—and, by extension, Pillion—simply replies, “Well, that’s fine. It’s not for you to like.”

Her consent isn’t what matters. Nor does the audience’s approval. Only Colin’s does. Only our ability to understand why Colin wants it does. Pillion’s true feat is its ability to do that with subtlety, tenderness, and tremendous humor and wit. It’s one of the year’s first true must-watches.

Pillion throws on its harness and hits the scene, aka the multiplexes, in America starting February 6.

Pillion Trailer: