Cert - 18

Run-time - 1 hour 47 minutes

Director - Harry Lighton

Quiet Colin (Harry Melling) discovers more about himself when becoming the submissive partner of tough biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), however a lack of expression causes tensions in the relationship.

'The annual gay BDSM bikers' skinny dipping and fishing expedition' sounds as if it could come from a Python sketch. But, Pillion sees no element of humour or mocking in the day out for biking enthusiast friends and their sub/dom partners.

The film as a whole is refreshing and original in its normalised, unjudging view of the characters' kinks, including protagonist Colin's (Harry Melling) "aptitude for devotion."

In the aforementioned scenes we see the quiet, unsure parking officer entering further into a world where he feels less alone. However, his introduction to this world is also where he starts to feel most isolated. After meeting at a pub on Christmas Eve, and an unintimate first date round the side of Primark the next night, Colin, and the audience, is drawn in to the mystery of near-silent, hard-staring, leather-clad biker Ray (Alexander Skarsgård).

Yet, as he starts to find himself and his expressions of love in the sub-dom relationship the reasons for Ray's mystery start to create tensions in the relationship.

Skarsgård is great at turning the uncommunicative biker from a tough-edged enigma to a character clearly holding something in. Melling's continuously tender performance struggles to start conversations about his want for more expression between the pair; more intimacy.

There's clearly a connection between the two, but it feels, successfully, divided by their different wants and views. Caught in the contrast between the brave and compelling performances, both, like the film, unflinching, totally committed and unshakably sensitive.

While not finding humour in its basis there are still laughs within Pillion. Largely in the interactions that surround Colin, such as responses from his colleagues and family members - although his mum (Lesley Sharp) grows increasingly concerned the more distanced her son becomes, and the more what she hears about the relationship starts to sound like abuse. Her and Ray meeting goes about as expected once the mystery has turned into blocking.

Much of what we see is looked at thoughtfully, bringing out the emotional side of a relationship that lacks direct, verbal emotional expression - wonderfully conveyed by Melling as he starts to overflow and leak out his wants and feelings. Colin may sometimes hold on to his emotions, but the film makes sure that we understand and engage with him and the personal journey he goes on.

Everything in Pillion comes together not for a film that can be best described as bold or raw (although it certainly is), but as refreshing. An original love story (branded in some interviews as a 'dom-com') that gently and naturally flips over the central themes to show the other side of the wonderfully performed central relationship.

Mysterious and compelling, this is a tender look at discovery of self in love and communicating in the wake of that, even if they may seem to contrast.

Four stars