VIFF 2025 | 'Pillion' – Alexander Skarsgård Controls A Rom-Dom-Com

"I have an aptitude for devotion."

Vancouver International Film Festival

VIFF 2025—The comically mismatched romantic pairing of Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård stars in English filmmaker Harry Lighton's explicit yet crowd-pleasing directorial debut, Pillion, based on British author Adam Mars-Jones' 2020 novel Box Hill. Framed as a stylish, BDSM-themed gay biker romance, both actors are fearless yet earnestly sweet in their tender but often graphic courtship.

Lighton expresses the ideals and extremes of homosexual sex through intense homoerotic imagery, men's bodies, leather-clad clothing, chains, and a sense of tight control. Skarsgård's sculpted physique, contrasted to Melling's meek demeanour, is used as an obvious but appealing portrait of a dominant-submissive relationship. There's a deliberately controlled dynamic of removed emotional detachment, leading to sweaty intimacy seen on screen.

We get into the mind of Melling's devoted submissive just as Skarsgård's aloof biker dom relishes his power over him. Pillion also feels particularly British in its queerness, with a lack of emotional sharing or explaining feelings, while characters maintain their proper manners despite the strangeness of many situations.

It's a quiet but deeply absurdist romance about our (very) explicit wants and desires sexually, physically, and emotionally. Pillion's bizarrely sweet affection for the kinks and pleasures of its characters does not go unnoticed. Imagine the coming-of-age, "first love" tone of a classic Richard Curtis British romantic comedy, but only expressed through the sub-dom strictness of a BDSM gay relationship.

Pillion screened at the 2025 Vancouver International Film Festival as part of the Showcase series at the Rio Theatre. It also screens at the Park Theatre starting February 27th.


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