Sub Culture: A Review of Harry Lighton's 'Pillion'
Alexander Skarsgård is a commanding Dom in an uncompromisingly queer film that fluctuates between the hard shell and the soft underbelly of a uniquely gay male way of life
February 6, 2026
Writer-director Harry Lighton’s Pillion is the kind of movie I watch with two simultaneous thoughts in my head: “How did he ever raise the money for this and convince actors that this was good idea?” and “How did he pull this off artistically?”
The edgy film is a lively, visceral surprisingly sweet anti-safe word, an extremely carefully observed story of Dom/sub (Alexander Skarsgård/harry melling) love that never flinches from revealing its characters’ unorthodox, neatly polar-opposite priorities.
When the two first meet, older Ray is the strong, silent type — and also the type to lead a virginal Colin into an alley for an aggressive face-fuck that doesn’t quite work out. It all seems like a bit of fantasy, or even a budding, sexually charged romance, but as Ray will say later — and convincingly — “That’s not what this is.”
