PILLION

Φεβ 22, 2026 Κινηματογράφος 0

MOVIE REVIEWS

AN IMAGE OF DOMINANCE

Pillion: written by Giannis Fragkoulis

1The pillion is the rear seat of a motorcycle. Harry Lighton’s film deals with certain behaviors within the gay community. More specifically, it explores submission and dominance among these individuals, how these dynamics are expressed, and which elements ultimately shape a person’s identity. We watched it at the Pavlos Zannas cinema in Thessaloniki.

Pillion: The movie

Colin is gay and is trying to find his partner in life. His mother, who is in the final stage of cancer, is searching for this partner along with him. He meets Ray while Ray is out walking his dog. From the very first moment, love sparks between them. Ray wants Colin to obey him blindly. Colin will be the one who cooks, does the shopping, but sleeps on the floor — unlike the dog, who sleeps on Ray’s bed. Only his mother reacts to this and becomes the «villain» of the story, also facing the distancing of Colin’s father over the issue. In the end, will Colin find his true love?

After six short films, the director is now preparing to make his first feature-length film. He has already been awarded 13 times, including at the Independent Film Awards for «Pillion» in 2025, at the Galway Film Festival, and by the London film critics. He has tested his abilities both in screenwriting and directing. The transition from short film to feature film was only natural. We can see that he was ready to create a solid film with a distinctive point of view.

Pillion: The Gaze

He approaches gay people with care, without prejudice, and above all, with affection. Colin’s family has accepted his sexual orientation, as have his friends. There is no issue of marginalization. On the contrary, the group of gay characters lives a normal life; they move comfortably within society, without being singled out, doing what any person does. The script does not treat them as something exotic. Having moved past these prejudices, the director can focus on examining behaviors and building his characters. The film’s four main characters are Colin, Ray, and Colin’s mother and father.

Colin’s parents want their child to be happy. They do not care about his sexual orientation, as long as he is fulfilled. His father is soft‑spoken, accepts his son’s wishes, and does not question them further. His mother, however, plays a more active role. When Colin’s parents first met, she was the one who openly expressed her love, showing off her lover like a trophy. Now she wants to find a lover for her son -almost as if she wants to «settle» him before she dies. She arranges dates for him, but all of them fail. It is not hard to understand that she is the one who organizes everything; she wants and demands that things be done properly. She is a person who cannot transmit parts of herself to others. She follows a process she has defined, and she can become harsh when something deviates from it.

Pillion: Identity

Colin tries to identify with his mother. He doesn’t succeed, even though he constantly refers to her and clearly loves her. This is where the film locates his childhood trauma. In his attempt to understand this great unknown, he turns to his father, who is more giving. He clings to him and, through this attachment, approaches the same sex to the point of falling in love. According to Reich’s theory, we have the father-son dyad, with the son wanting to approach the mother. As a result, he submits to the maternal persona and expresses both behaviors: homosexuality and submissiveness. In Ray, he sees his mother and projects onto him the traits he inherited from his father.

Ray is not like Colin’s parents. He is authoritarian, he does not give, just like Colin’s mother, and he keeps others at a distance. In Colin, he sees a submissive partner through whom he can validate his own wounded identity. We do not know much about Ray -essentially, we do not know him at all. In this regard, Colin’s mother is right, even if she exaggerates in her descriptions during the dinner scene with all four of them at the family home. And indeed, at some point, he simply disappears, even after having shown warmth and deep affection toward his partner.

Pillion: The characters

Who was Ray? We will never find out. Not even Colin can claim he truly knows him. Yet he continues searching after their breakup, openly sharing his sexual preferences and emphasizing his submissive nature. This is an additional element he has absorbed from Ray -another layer in the construction of his neurosis, which pushes him toward the hysterical. The path he now follows is set. He is a submissive gay man who lives comfortably within the shadows cast upon him by his mother, by her alter ego, by Ray -shadows his father has never illuminated, not even slightly.

The script guides us into this terrain of characters in a simple yet solid way. It knows exactly where it is going and never deviates from that course. In the end, it offers us a world that exists within our society, showing respect to these individuals, as any person who does not impose limits on the self‑evident should. The film’s pacing is excellent in shaping its characters. By the end, we have a complete development of Colin’s character and his connections to the other figures in the story. There are no gaps; the viewer must make the connections and then the interpretations.

Pillion: The qualities of the film

The cinematography is very good, quite balanced, and not provocative during the intimate moments. The music highlights the romantic quality we would like to exist, but which is absent from Colin and Ray’s relationship. The actors perform exceptionally well and embody their characters convincingly. They shape each role with precisely measured narrative gestures; the dialogue and the glances are so controlled that nothing feels excessive. The director’s guidance was clearly effective. It is a distinctive film that has something to offer the viewer, provided it is watched with attention.

PILLION

Director: Harry Lighton

Screenplay: Harry Lighton, Adam Mars-Jones (novel Box Hill)

Cinematography: Nick Morris

Editing: Gareth C. Scales

Music: Oliver Coates

Sound: Barry Donnelly, Nate Brailer, Bobby Johanson, Christopher Wilson

Production design: Katherine Black

Costumes: Grace Snell

Producers: Lee Groombridge, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Emma Norton

Cast: Harry Melling (Colin), Alexander Skarsgård (Ray), Douglas Hodge (Pete, Colin’s father), Lesley Sharp (Peggy, Colin’s mother), Jake Shears (Kevin), Mat Hill (Steve), Nick Figgis (Don), Zoe Engerer (Don’s wife)

Country of production: United Kingdom, Ireland

Language: English

Year of production: 2025

Color: Color

Genre: Dark comedy, romantic

Duration: 106 minutes

For more information about the film’s creators and technical details, see here.

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