{"id":111821,"date":"2025-05-18T13:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T13:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/111821\/"},"modified":"2025-05-18T13:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-05-18T13:45:08","slug":"alexander-skarsgard-is-dom-for-the-holidays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/111821\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd Is Dom For The Holidays"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIn his feature directorial debut Pillion<\/a>, writer-director Harry Lighton<\/a> sets a beautifully heartbreaking love story against a modern world of BDSM.<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on the 2020 novel Box Hill by Adam Mars-Jones, Pillion stars Harry Melling<\/a> as a timid young gay man named Colin who comes into his sexuality when a biker named Ray (Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd) takes him on as his sexual submissive.<\/p>\n

\n\tA new kinkier Christmas classic for LGBTQ fans of Carol and Tangerine, Christmas carols over the piano with family are followed by an anonymous alleyway blowjob with a hot stranger, perhaps a familiar experience for one too many (or not enough) gay men going home for the holidays. In this case, Colin eagerly licks up the mud off Ray\u2019s boots when told to, all within the first 20 minutes of the movie.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnother erotic scene includes some ass-less wrestling singlets before the pair experiences an unfortunately common plumbing issue that comes with anal sex, one that\u2019s handled with a sincere awkwardness and empathy.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: Cannes Film Festival 2025: Read All Of Deadline\u2019s Movie Reviews<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tBut beneath the unabashed sexual content, Lighton\u2019s debut is all romance, kicking off with a French rendition of \u201cI Will Follow Him,\u201d foreshadowing the hopeless devotion Colin develops for Ray in their dom\/sub relationship.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opening scene sees Colin at a pub for a Christmas performance with his barbershop quartet (including Douglas Hodge as his dad Pete), where his mom Peggy (Lesley Sharp) also set him up on date with a \u201cFree Britney\u201d activist, a sweet attempt at finding her son someone to settle down with before she dies of cancer. Colin\u2019s parents represent a new era of LGBTQ-affirming parents who are likely on the other side of the \u201cDoes kink belong at Pride?\u201d debate, despite its important contributions to the community. Although they only want to see their son happy, it\u2019s initially a shock learning what he\u2019s into.<\/p>\n

\n\tSkarsg\u00e5rd understood the assignment, slipping seamlessly into his role as the sexually dominant yet elusive Ray, who\u2019s fearless in communicating his every desire, but emotionally closed off to any real intimacy as the leader of a gay biker gang.<\/p>\n

\n\tMelling portrays parking attendant Colin with the thrilling curiosity and emotional depth of a young gay man exploring his sexuality for the first time, while attempting to define his own desires and identity, independent of his much more experienced dom.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an unexpected supporting turn, Scissor Sisters\u2019 Jake Shears makes his acting debut in a role as a fellow submissive who has a steamy NSFW scene with Skarsg\u00e5rd on a picnic table (featuring a prosthetic with a Prince Albert piercing). The musician also flexes his acting muscle in a subtle yet bitchy exchange with Melling\u2019s Colin, in which both of their butts are on display.<\/p>\n

\n\tRELATED: <\/strong>Full List Of Cannes<\/a> Palme d\u2019Or Winners Through The Years: Photo Gallery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tAs their unique bond grows, Colin takes on more of his dom\u2019s identity, shaving his head and wearing biker gear. Although the validation of finding a tribe speaks to him, he ultimately loses himself in the leather, noting his \u201captitude for devotion\u201d to Ray. <\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, a personal tragedy shakes Colin into consciousness, the only element that manages to pierce Ray\u2019s exterior long enough to let his sub in. But is the moment of vulnerability enough of a foundation to find common ground in their unconventional relationship?<\/p>\n

\n\tBeneath the bondage and demands, there\u2019s genuine caring between Ray and Colin, like when the former assembles his crew to celebrate the latter\u2019s birthday, or when Ray helps a grieving Colin collect himself. He even breaks through his broody fa\u00e7ade\u00a0to makes a pizza joke when Colin is at his lowest. It represents what Colin never was able to explain to his mom, which is that while dom\/sub relationships might look abusive to outsiders, the successful ones come from a healthy balance of power that satisfies both parties, who have just as much a capacity for love and care as anyone else.<\/p>\n

\n\tLighton beautifully uses kink and BDSM as a playground to explore the longing and devotion that comes from unrequited love, as well as the balance of learning to love yourself and maintaining a sense of independence. With help from Skarsg\u00e5rd and Melling, the film navigates the chaotic push and pull of a relationship, as each sacrifices parts of themselves for the potential of love.<\/p>\n

\n\tTitle:<\/strong> Pillion
Festival:<\/strong> Cannes (Un Certain Regard)
Distributors:<\/strong> A24, Memento Distribution
Director-screenwriter:<\/strong> Harry Lighton
Cast:<\/strong> Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd, Harry Melling
Running time:<\/strong> 1 hr 47 mins<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In his feature directorial debut Pillion, writer-director Harry Lighton sets a beautifully heartbreaking love story against a modern…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111822,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3935],"tags":[4568,5839,5840,77,49628,50768,3943,49630,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-111821","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-alexander-skarsgard","9":"tag-cannes","10":"tag-cannes-2025","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-harry-lighton","13":"tag-harry-melling","14":"tag-movies","15":"tag-pillion","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114529142351304526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}