Pillion(2026)

Plot Summary

• Colin (Harry Melling), a shy, introverted gay man, lives with his parents in Bromley, London, and works a menial job assigning parking tickets while pursuing his hobby of singing in a barbershop quartet. One evening at the pub, he is slipped a note by Ray (Alexander Skarsgård), a handsome member of a local biker club. The two meet on Christmas Day at a high street alleyway, where Ray wordlessly ushers Colin to perform oral sex on him. After the hookup, Colin suggests seeing Ray again, but he replies that he is not often around.Colin texts Ray, but receives no response. Eventually, Ray invites Colin to his home, where Colin is initiated into a strict BDSM relationship: Colin cooks, cleans, and shops, sleeps on the floor, and obeys Ray's every command. In return, Colin enjoys an intense but controlled sexual relationship with Ray, in which they never kiss. Acclimating to Ray's lifestyle, Colin shaves his head, wears a chained padlock around his neck (with Ray wearing the key) and joins Ray's fetish biker community. Meanwhile, Colin's parents express their worries about how little Colin knows about Ray.Though Ray does not celebrate Colin's birthday, the bikers throw a surprise party for him and they all go on a road trip. During this time, Colin witnesses different BDSM dynamics and sees a dominant and submissive kiss. Colin finds himself in a line-up of four men wearing chaps, leaning side-by-side over a picnic table, positioned to be sodomized by their doms. Ray has one of the other subs fellate him in front of Colin, much to Colin's chagrin. Ray then proceeds to have sex with Colin in the missionary position for the first time, and Colin delights in the intimacy.Given Colin's pleas and the fact Colin's mother is terminally ill, Ray finally relents to meet Colin's parents. They fail to understand the couple's dynamic, resulting in an argument in which Colin's mother accuses Ray of mistreating and taking advantage of Colin and Ray accuses Colin's mother of a "backwards," "ignorant" worldview.Some weeks later, Colin's mother dies. Following the funeral, Colin has a breakdown while cooking Ray's dinner, deliberately burning his hands. Ray helps Colin, orders them pizza and jokes around with Colin during dinner, and finally allows Colin to sleep in the bed with him for the first time, where Ray unknowingly cuddles Colin in his sleep. Colin confesses his love to Ray, with Ray replying that love is not the basis of their relationship. When Colin asks to be allowed to sleep in the bed again and to have a day off from his submissive role each week, Ray flatly refuses. The two fight, and Colin steals Ray's motorcycle and rides into the night.The next morning, upon returning to Ray's house, Colin is shocked to find Ray has agreed they should enjoy a day off from their dominant and submissive dynamic. Colin is initially unsure what they should do as a "normal" couple. The two go to the cinema, where Ray touches Colin's thigh before giving him a hand-job, and the two are chased out. After eating at a restaurant, they go to the park where they wrestle and share their first kiss. Colin is excited, but seems to read the sadness on Ray's face afterwards.The next day, Ray disappears entirely, with Colin unsuccessfully attempting to locate him. Some time later, realizing that Ray has definitely abandoned him, Colin makes an account on Grindr, seeking a new BDSM relationship-now with a better understanding of his limits and being more assertive about his demands-and he meets up with a new dom, Darren (Anthony Welsh), at a football pitch.

Storyline

• Colin, a weedy wallflower letting life pass him by, meets Ray, the impossibly handsome leader of a motorbike club, who then takes him on as his submissive. Ray uproots Colin from his dreary suburban life, introducing him to a community of kinky, queer bikers and taking all sorts of virginities along the way. But as Colin steps deeper into Ray's world of rules and mysteries, he begins to question whether the life of a 24/7 submissive is for him. Has he found his calling, or simply swapped one form of suffocation for another? — brianfabulous In suburban Bromley, Peggy and Pete Smith are actively looking for a boyfriend for their still at-home son, Colin, in wanting to see him happy, especially important for Peggy in her short time left in having a terminal case of cancer. Already meek to begin with, Colin's lack of self-esteem is only exacerbated by working in one of the most despised professions: parking enforcement. Leading an otherwise straight-laced life, including singing in a barbershop quartet with Pete, Colin, while on an arranged date setup by Peggy just before Christmas, is picked up by a biker, Ray. A traditionally handsome and masculine man of few words, Ray asks Colin out for Christmas evening. Their Christmas encounter ends up being one directed by Ray in all aspects. Before Colin knows it, he has entered into a dom-sub relationship with Ray, where Colin has to go with the flow of what Ray does and says without question. That non-questioning means that Colin doesn't even know what Ray does for a living or what he does during the time they're apart. While Peggy was happy that Colin found a man, even a biker, she is less enthralled by what little she and by association Colin knows about Ray. Eventually, Ray pulls Colin into his social circle of biker dom-sub couples. While professing to love Ray, Colin outwardly is looking for more than what is in the relationship, that extra arguably closer to traditional forms of love that include affection and the "take" that matches the "give". How Colin decides to manifest how he is feeling and in interacting with Ray's social circle will not only affect what happens between him and Ray, but may give him a clearer perspective of what his form of true love is. — Huggo