Pillion

Colin is shy and unremarkable; nothing happens in his life. At a Christmas party he meets Ray, a biker in leather. Ray is the dominant in a BDSM relationship and his offer to Colin is explicit: the rules are set, the limits are set, obedience is the point. Colin accepts and gets on the back of the bike. What follows swerves between carnal and caring, brutal and unexpectedly romantic. Harry Lighton wrote and directed his first feature. Harry Melling plays Colin and Alexander Skarsgård plays Ray. It runs 106 minutes and is a British production. It screened in Un Certain Regard at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and won the Best Screenplay prize there. The structure behind it is worth noting too: it was funded by BFI Network and Film London, and Lighton came through the BFI Network and BAFTA mentoring programme in its 2017 cohort. Who it is for: viewers who like unusual relationship dynamics and films built on two performers. Who it is not for: anyone uncomfortable with explicit sex and power shown directly. The film does not soften its subject.