There have been plenty of sex-forward romantic comedies and relationship dramas in recent years: Babygirl, Challengers, Queer, and Fire Island all come to mind. But Pillion, the debut feature from director Harry Lighton, promises to out-do all of them, at least in terms of the sexual explicitness depicted in the film. The trailer alone sees Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling—ass out—wrestling in spandex singlets before Skarsgard’s Colin tells Melling’s Ray to go buy a butt plug, for he is too tight.Â
The logline for Pillion simply reads: “A timid man is swept off his feet when an enigmatic, impossibly handsome biker takes him on as his submissive.” Having seen the film recently at the New York Film Festival, this writer can confirm that much is true, but that Pillion is far sexier, more hilarious, and more moving than such a logline might suggest.Â
Based on the novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, Pillion premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival before debuting in North America at Telluride and then NYFF last month. Whether the version of Pillion that screened at these festivals is the version that makes it to its U.S. wide release still seems somewhat up in the air; Skarsgard and Lighton admitted to Variety in May that they had to make some cuts before debuting the picture at Cannes, and that there may be some more before it opens wide (or at least wider) in the U.S. According to Skarsgard after the premiere, “There’s definitely a raunchier version of this movie… what you’ve seen is the family friendly version.” While we might not recommend taking your whole family with you, you can see Pillion for yourself in early 2026.Â
