“It’s not a bear movie, it’s an otter movie!” a woman opined outside the theater after the early screening of Pillion. It’s true: Alexander Skarsgård is too sleek to be a bear (if you are wondering what an “otter” is, Google is your friend!). But he is also simply smokin’ hot. At one point in Pillion, Harry Melling’s Colin is asked by a co-worker, “How’d you get a man like that?”
You see, Colin’s selling point may not be sheer sex appeal (he is kind of adorkable, with his floppy hair and blinky-little-rabbit eyes), but Skarsgård’s Ray sees young Colin’s potential as a submissive to his dominant. (Can I say I wish I had coined the term “dom-com” for this film first? Some other clever reviewer got there ahead of me.)
Ray and Colin meet-cute in a bar, where dorky Colin is singing in a barbershop quartet, and then meet for a first “date” in an alley. The film is extremely tactile, especially in its sound design. Colin’s eyes widen in the alley as Ray slowly unzips his leathers, and their first, errr… interaction is plenty awkward, based largely on the sounds of the inexperienced but willing-to-try younger man.
It must be pointed out that Pillion is funny, and Ray’s courtship of Colin is amusingly wholesome. When Colin gets picked up via motorcycle, his eyes roll back in his head with pleasure as he clutches Ray’s leather-clad sides on the back of the bike. (I didn’t know “pillion” is the name of the passenger seat behind a rider on a motorcycle.)
What makes their relationship a little, shall we say, less vanilla is that Colin sleeps on the floor next to the bed, makes Ray’s meals, does all the shopping, and is basically his willing plaything for all things sexual. Colin’s sick mum (Lesley Sharp) is more concerned about Ray as boyfriend material. She doesn’t like the way Ray commands her son to do things.
Pillion takes a slightly more serious turn when Colin realizes that he wants more from the arms-length Ray. Ray, bless his heart, is a tough nut to crack, and any glimpse of kindness comes across as a win. But whether that is enough for the more romantic Colin needs to be played out for their relationship to continue.
I have to say I laughed a lot during Pillion. It is indeed a rom-com, but one with motorcyle leathers, assless wrestling outfits, stretching buttplugs, and campfire orgies. Beyond that, it is a surprisingly charming movie about a shy young man having his own sort of sexual awakening—discovering his own untapped desire to please, not to mention his particular skill at doing it.
Wow
Wow