Young man Colin works as a traffic enforcement officer. He is fragile, quiet, ordinary and still loves with his parents. He is also socially awkward, emotionally tentative, and painfully eager to please. His mother is dying of cancer. A chance encounter with a hot and handsome biker Ray changes his life forever. When Ray leaves his number for Colin, he assumes it will be a date, what ends up being is a blunt, transactional sexual encounter in an open alleyway. It is no cruel but emotionless, but still Colin finds himself satisfying by pleasing Ray. Slowly Colin is drawn into a strict dom–sub relationship that is governed by ritual, obedience, and an explicit power imbalance. He cooks, cleans, sleeps on the floor, and submits to Ray’s commands. In return, he receives affection, sexual intimacy, and a sense of purpose that had previously been absent from his life. Pillion means seat behind motorcyclist, and with this Dom-sub relationship where Ray is in full control, Colin discovers in himself the ecstatic vocation of the sub. On one day off, the two together have a fun day, but that doesn't sit well with Ray who discovers that he may feel emotions that he doesn't want to and so he disappears leaving Colin questioning his purpose in life. The ending is interesting where Colin, having signed up on an app looking for a master, potentially meets a match where he may also have a say.
As Ray, Alexander Skarsgård wears his motorcycle leathers like a second skin, moving with the ease and conviction of a Golden-Age cowboy. This character is supposed to be handsome as crazy and he nails that bit to the T, completely in command and control of his sub who just wants to please him. We become entrenched in Ray’s community, an ensemble of BDSM bikers who are captured through a naturalist lens sharing joy and camaraderie. This is something rarely shown in the film and yes, it does get explicit in more than a few places. The film makes us observe how this Dom-sub relationship work, since this is likely new for a whole lot of audience, and how it reshapes Colin’s sense of self. It never judges or tries to demonize anything. The film treats BDSM as a legitimate expression of intimacy, while also acknowledging the emotional risks involved when desire intersects with vulnerability. And trust me watching it is not easy. We are rarely given access to Ray’s interior life in the same way we are with Colin’s, a choice that mirrors the power imbalance within the relationship itself. In this relationship, the intimacy comes differently, through structure, through surrender, through trust that is earned rather than assumed. There are not many dialogues and the film subtly shows us the evolution of Colin'c character and how he allows himself to be seen eventually. It's not like Colin has a trauma or anything. It just suggests that desire can simply exist, shaped by personality, longing, and circumstance, without requiring justification. While all this is good and interesting, I felt that Ray's character wasn't as well developed as was Colin's. I would have liked to know more about his POV on many of these things. Colin is besotted with his handsome lover in a way that initially overcomes any resistance that he might otherwise have had to the power dynamic in their relationship. Ray is damaged, in a way that's never explained, and in the end the relationship as it is is all that he can cope with.
Even though this is a well made and greatly acted film, i do feel like it is not necessarily compelling and engaging as I had expected it to be. Still an interesting addition to the BDSM genre especially when popular main stream actors take on the courage of acting in such subjects. (7/10)
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