In Sex Reviews, writers offer a sober critical assessment of the sex scenes in new films and television series. This installment contains spoilers for Pillion.
Fans of Heated Rivalry will be happy to hear that there’s been another entry into the world of scintillating gay romance. Pillion, writer-director Harry Lighton’s first feature film, has been turning heads and dropping jaws since it premiered at Cannes last year. (It won Best Screenplay.) The film stars noted on-screen sex haver Alexander Skarsgård—he’s equally provocative in the NC-17-rated Infinity Pool—and some guy named Harry Melling, who seems to have been in Harry Potter. Melling plays Colin, a certified beta whose deepest desire is to serve. He gets his wish when he meets Ray (Skarsgård), a toppy, Tom of Finland–esque biker with an attitude so icy it could preserve food. The two enter into a full-time power-exchange relationship that fuels both of their desires, until their connection evolves to a heart-wrenching breaking point.
Unlike other recent films about kink that were bound and gagged by their own corniness—think Sanctuary and Fifty Shades of Grey—Pillion has been lauded as realistic, sophisticated, and smart, and the movie is currently sitting at 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Still, was it enough to satisfy senior editor Isabelle Kohn and How to Do It columnist Rich Juzwiak? Be a good boy and find out.
11:10: Ray and Colin’s First Encounter, With More Than One Thing Going in Colin’s Mouth
Isabelle Kohn: If you ask me, the sex in this scene starts minutes before any actual “sex” takes place, when Colin follows a wordless and ice-cold Ray down a dark alleyway next to what appears to be a Barnes & Noble. Right off the bat, their roles are clear: Ray is in control, and Colin is his bumbling, off-kilter prey. Surprisingly few words are exchanged to define this arrangement—it’s conveyed almost entirely through body language, with Ray’s menacing musculature and dead-eyed stare devouring Colin’s confused, benign, and presumably hairless figure. After Ray removes his soon-to-be-signature motorcycle jacket to reveal a bare, shredded upper body—which both intimidates and fascinates Colin—they have what appears to be the closest approximation of a “consent conversation” they’ll have the entire film (which isn’t saying much!).
“What am I going to do with you?” Ray asks Colin, who trembles like a wet Chihuahua under his gaze.
“Whatever you want,” Colin stammers. Sub alert!
Rich Juzwiak: Not only is the shirt removal ballsy in a public setting, but this scene takes place on Christmas in England, which means it’s cold. If that doesn’t get your nipples hard, I don’t know what will. Setting this on Christmas makes their solitude plausible and the outdoor blow job transgressive. This movie is scattered with nice touches that deepen its reality efficiently. Those who aren’t aware may be shocked to learn that this is Harry Lighton’s first feature.
Nice clocking of the very brief consent conversation. It really is as close as it gets. Ray takes it and runs. Skarsgård’s characterization rides the edge of dom and asshole, but for a while we sense that if he’s exploiting Colin, he’s exploiting the willing.
Kohn: Totally. So when Ray pushes Colin down to his knees, where he’s face-to-face with Ray’s crotch, Colin seems happy enough to be there. What did you think about the way they set this up?
Rich: The shot of Skarsgård from below and at an angle is right out of the Russ Meyer school of cinematography. It very much puts you in the scene by feasting your eyes on a total babe. There is, of course, a complementary shot of Melling on the ground.
Another one of the movie’s trademark nice touches? The brief flicker of shaft you get as Ray pulls himself out of his fly. Beautifully composed shot—reminds me of Mapplethorpe.
Isabelle: It’s somehow tasteful and understated—not just peen for peen’s sake. But as soon as Colin starts going down on Ray, he reveals a crucial weakness: He’s kinda bad at it!
Rich: Yes, his character is almost cartoonishly inept, choking and gagging. Ray looks practically confused, like, How could someone who obviously wants me be this bad at giving head? I imagine for this character, it’s all part of the turn-on. He realizes that what he has on his hands is not only a sub but practically human clay that he can mold into his own breathing sex toy.
Isabelle: Clearly disappointed in the fellatio, Ray tells Colin to get down on his hands and knees and lick his leather boots instead. This pivot is as revealing as it is electrifying—it solidifies that this interaction isn’t just about sex; it’s about power. In case there was any question about that, Ray starts masturbating above Colin while Colin cleans his boots with his tongue, as if to say, “You don’t get to have this.”
Though Skarsgård-as-Ray makes nary one facial expression per hour of this movie’s runtime, we see his face contort with pleasure when he allows Colin a second chance at blowing him. He seems to enjoy it much more having just degraded Colin with the boot thing, and Colin, now smirking with Ray’s very obvious ejaculate on his lips, seems to love it too.
Rich: The tension in Skarsgård’s pecs while he’s jerking himself off? Say it with me now: Nice touch. It feels really real. Also real-feeling is Ray introducing himself after he’s come. So often in these meetings, that is exactly how it goes.
31:00: Ray Owns Colin’s Ass at Wrestling
Isabelle: Ray seems to really love physical displays of dominance, which we saw earlier in the blow-job scene when he grappled Colin to the ground, and which we see again here when he and Colin get into some erotic wrestling. (This is Colin’s reward for making decent coffee.) We already know who’s going to win, but it’s so fun to watch Ray absolutely dismantle Colin. At one point, he stretches him backward over his knee and grabs his crotch, squeezing until Colin “gives.” Colin is like a defenseless, gleeful rag doll, and Ray can pin him, stretch him, and play with him however he wants.
Rich: This part also contains what I think of as the single hottest image of the movie: Skarsgård grinding Melling’s face into his crotch.
We should also talk about the soundtrack choice in this scene, teen pop star Tiffany’s 1987 cover of “I Think We’re Alone Now.” The way the song sits in the sound mix gives the impression that this is playing in the room with them, which means that Ray selected it. What a choice for a dom leatherman biker! Combine that with the clarity of the tattoos on his upper torso (in a column: “Ellen, Wendy, Rosie,” three women talk-show hosts), and you get the sense that Ray has a bit more depth than a simple stoic dom top, as much as that’s a fantasy image. The scene seems to reveal that he’s comfortable with his sexuality/masculinity—so much so that he’s into stuff that others might deem “girly.” Through this, we start to understand that in presenting the more masculine elements of his personality and interests, he’s playing a character. The performance of masculinity, I think, has long been taken for granted, particularly in pop culture, but a movie like this or Halina Reijn’s Babygirl suggests that like everything, manliness is also a performance.
I love the wrestling because it is real. They are jammed up against each other, and the struggle is plausible. At one point, Ray steps on Colin’s legs, grabs his arms, and falls into a backward somersault to lift Colin in the air. Skarsgård was really stepping on poor Dudley Dursley! And their singlets communicate their roles, or at least Colin’s role, since his ass is cut out. I once needed a singlet in a pinch for a party, and I went to a bunch of sex shops around Chelsea in Manhattan. The only ones I could find were assless. I don’t think I ended up getting one, because they just all seemed so tacky.
Isabelle: The tone here is really playful, which is such a departure from who you think Ray is at this point. You get the sense that the next song in the queue might be “Call Me Maybe,” by Carly Rae Jepsen, and that it might play while he breaks Colin in half. Which he then proceeds to do.
After Ray has beaten Colin at wrestling (duh), our exhausted sub lies face down on the floor, ass exposed. Ray leaves and quickly comes back with a bottle of lube. Foreshadowing!
Rich: Ray is pretty liberal with the lube here. Ray fucks Colin in a position I’ve heard referred to as “prison style.” The bottom lies flat, ass up (or, in Ray’s words, “On your front!”), while the top lays on him. It can be extremely pleasurable for the top, and it makes jerking off as the bottom practically impossible. This seems calculated by Ray.
Isabelle: Of course! Ray can’t have Colin making this exchange equal in any way. He makes this even more clear by pinning one of Colin’s arms behind his back, which Colin, being Colin, seems to love. We then see him go through some of the typical phases of receiving anal sex—the brief moments of discomfort followed by a rush of rising pleasure—all accomplished by some remarkable face acting from Melling. Then, suddenly, Colin’s body braces, and his moans take on a more exasperated tone.
At that point, when Colin’s pleasure starts to turn to pain, Ray, ever the attuned top, stops and pulls out. Surprise! He’s cruel, but apparently not to the point where he actually wants to hurt his sub. So far, this is as much tenderness and care as we get from Ray, but he also seems disappointed in Colin for not being able to take it. He denies Colin’s offer to finish him off with his mouth, causing Colin to feel even more rejected and incapable than he already is. I’d guess Ray is destabilizing, or even mind-fucking Colin here. If Colin feels inferior and never knows what to expect from Ray, he’ll be more desperate to please him and gain his attention.
Rich: I find myself vicariously searching for tenderness from Ray. Even though this scene is borderline brutal, when Ray holds Colin’s wrists while plowing him from behind it’s something close to sweet? Intimate?
Isabelle: There’s romance in the harshness, which might be because they both actually want this … at least at this point in the movie. Later on, we see Colin start to engage more with what he—not just Ray—wants.
52:00: A Kinky Biker Picnic With a Moment of Brilliant Romantic Cruelty and a Memorable Piercing
Isabelle: Now Ray and Colin are camping with their gaggle of kinky biker friends. We see a table full of tops playing cards while one of their subs, in pup gear, barks at a passing motorcycle. As the camera pans around the campsite, we see four of the group’s subs bent over picnic tables, asses out, waiting for their tops to use them. Colin is positioned next to Ray’s ex Kevin. I really love this scene’s premise! It’s creative, and there’s so much tension: Who will fuck who, and when?
Rich: Lighton has discussed paring back the film’s sexual content, and this strikes me as a scene that probably had a number done to it, as it’s a setup for a lavish orgy: four bottoms, ass up, on foldout tables. (We see Colin and Kevin, played by Scissor Sisters front man Jake Shears, carrying theirs.) A few scenes before, Ray had asked to “borrow” Kevin for a chicken fight in the lake after Colin lost a round. Here, he continues to seemingly punish Colin by letting Kevin blow him first (while Kevin is getting an extremely realistic rim job from his dom). Incidentally, we finally see more of what Ray’s working with. It’s thick and pierced. (My suspicion is that a prosthetic was used to film it.)
You can see Colin’s joy dim when Ray passes him over, but it turns out that Kevin was just priming him. Ray fucks Colin’s mouth and ass (this time in missionary, or “On your back!,” as Ray barks). And we understand Colin’s growing sexual aptitude, as he’s able to suck Ray without choking and he takes him in the ass until Ray orgasms. This is Ray’s gift to Colin—he literally says, “Happy birthday, Colin” after he finishes. Colin beams.
Isabelle: That was so hot! Once again, Ray is destabilizing Colin so he remains hungry for approval and behaves accordingly. I loved the way he toyed with Colin’s emotions: You can practically feel his initial humiliation through the screen, but that only makes it more emotional and moving when Ray returns to him. It was so calculated, and somehow … connective? To me, it read as Ray saying, “You’re a wimp, but you’re my wimp, and I still want you.” These two men hardly say 10 words to each other the entire film, but volumes are being communicated between them here.
You know what I love about this movie? No one has to explain to anyone why they enjoy these things. They’re just doing them as if they’re the most normal things in the world. Which makes them feel normal.
Rich: The pragmatism of gay sex is highlighted, but subtly. Masterful.
1:27:51: A Movie-Theater Hand Job With Huge Implications
Rich: Colin asks for a day off from their dom/sub dynamic, and though Ray initially brushes him off, Colin acts out in such a way that makes his request unignorable. Ray, for once, cooks breakfast and allows Colin to plan their day. They walk around outside, get coffee, sing to each other (and a pair of unassuming women sitting on the bench), then hit the movies.
Isabelle: Call me soft, but for me, the hottest part of this whole film was the shot of Ray’s hand on Colin’s knee in the theater. It was so tender, but also dominant, and there was so much tension there because you know that Ray’s going way out of his comfort zone. He has temporarily relinquished his role as dominant, and he’s allowing himself to do the one thing he categorically never does: feel something. Then he jerks Colin off in the theater. Which we don’t see! We know only because they’re quickly chased out of the theater by an angry manager. This film has restraint, I’m telling you!
Rich: Once again, we are let into Ray’s inner life ever so slightly. That he can be this generous and seem to legitimately enjoy himself on Colin’s terms suggests, at minimum, that his butch top act is indeed an act. Or that at least it’s not all of him and something he can turn on and off at will.
1:29:53: A Romantic, Vanilla Kiss That Is Somehow More Transgressive Than Anything Else in This Film
Isabelle: Can we call the kiss a sex scene?
Rich: Why not? It’s definitely the most intimate part of the movie.
Isabelle: I agree. It happens immediately after they run away from the theater. They collapse on each other in a park and roll around in a much more tender way than ever before, and Colin, for once, winds up on top. As he straddles Ray, a kiss feels imminent, and you can see it in both their expressions. But oh no! As we discovered earlier in the film, from Ray’s ex Kevin, Ray doesn’t kiss. Except for today! After a moment of expectant eye contact, they lunge for each other and kiss passionately.
Rich: The kiss is not very tongue-heavy, but it is expressive. Skarsgård seems to be completely at ease and enjoying himself, and those are two things I love to see in a man when he’s attached to the face of another man.
Isabelle: And he went for the kiss just as much as Colin did! He couldn’t control himself at that moment. Which was scary for him! And that, of course, was the end of them.
Overall
Isabelle: Every Sex Review ends with a ranking, from 1 to 10, of how horny the film made you. Rich, where are you at?
Rich: I’m going to say a 7. This is truly a movie where the sex scenes add to the plot, as they are able to explore the larger dom/sub dynamic in very, very intimate terms. Even though it is graphic enough at times to make an ardent Heated Rivalry fan cry, Pillion is not a gratuitous movie. Skarsgård looks good as a sex god, but this story really belongs to Colin. He evolves as a person and, more specifically, as a sexual being, who, through experience, learns his needs. (I won’t spoil it entirely, but by the end he is poised to apply what Ray has taught him so far.) This is what I love most about the movie. There’s no guide to consult on how subbing will feel and look like for you. You have to live it and fine-tune it. The experience with Ray lets Colin see up close what he’s into and not willing to put up with. Ray reacts strongly to Colin’s terms, but I interpret his ultimate move as his own drawing of boundaries.
Isabelle: I’m giving this one an 8 for the dynamic and a 2 for the characters themselves. I’m turned off by Ray, who, ahem, moves out of his house and disappears, just because Colin tested his authority. I’d sub for him for the lore—and because he’s statuesque—but to me, his invulnerability actually reads as lame. How dominant are you if you go AWOL over a kiss? That said, I love the complexity of Ray’s character and the realization that this big, powerful man might not be so powerful after all. As for Colin, our sweet, hairless boy—Colin would have to pay me to dom him. And first he’d have to win at chicken.
All said, I don’t think this movie was designed to make people horny per se (though for some, that might be a side effect). It’s a nuanced story about power and vulnerability, and aside from my unattraction to the individuals in it, I think Ray’s dominance, Colin’s devotion, and the interplay between them was sexy, subtle, and impressively executed. I just wish it had been Michael Fassbender and Timothée Chalamet instead. Where were their agents on this?