As frank and graphic as this BDSM film is, it is also enlightening with unexpected moments of comedy. Don’t be put off by Director Harry Lighton’s deep dive into the world of a kinky biker’s dominant relationship controlling a submissive young man who is trying to find his own identity. This, his first feature, is based on a 2020 novel by “Adam Mars-Jones called Box Hill: A Story of Low Self-Esteem.”
Ray (Alexander Skarsgård) is an imposing, sculpted, hunk who knows what he wants and how to get it. He encounters meek, young Colin (Harry Melling) in a pub having fun singing with his father and brother in a hokey Barber Shop quartet. These are the last two you’d ever expect to get together a few days later for a back alley BJ orchestrated by Ray. It may shock you down to the actual boot licking, but Director Lighton wastes no time making clear Ray is calling the shots.
Watch Writer/Director Harry Lighton and actor Harry Melling talk about making the film at the Q & A at our screening in Chicago. Yes, they shot the wrestling scene first.
Colin is taken for a ride on the back of Ray’s bike. He gives Colin his address with orders to come no earlier than a certain time or he won’t be admitted to his apartment. These two couldn’t be more different. Ray is a magnificent specimen and lets Colin know it, but he also lays out some pretty stiff rules. Colin is taken aback but bowled over by Ray’s control of every situation, including what Ray expects of him.
Colin soon learns that Ray is a macho type gay who knows how to get satisfaction for himself at the expense of others. This is Colin’s chance to let Ray introduce him to a life he never thought possible. But that includes being given marching orders to be perfectly obeyed. That includes shopping, cooking, cleaning, errands, anything Ray wants, but also being aware and obeying Ray’s house rules. Come bedtime, Colin is directed to sleep alone, on a rug on the floor. Ray’s dog gets the bed. Colin rarely gets permission to invade space on the bed. The young submissive is disappointed, but is happy doing whatever Ray says.
That includes following how Ray wants Colin to look which is opposite to his plain appearance. Ray creates a punk image with shaved head and tats, wearing a metal dog collar with a lock, and tight-fitting leathers. He wants Colin to dress like his Biker buddies so the newbie can fit in when they all hang out together for weekend bar-b-cues, games and sex. Lighton wanted Costume Designer Grace Snell to put Skarsgård in sleek, tight cream-colored biker leathers, but the actor resisted saying he didn’t look good in cream. Director Lighton finally got Skarsgård to relent saying the camera needed to recognize him on the bike in the dark night scenes. Day or night, he stands out looking pretty cool in his cream colored body-hugger biker suit.
You can see that Colin is open to being a submissive, no matter how cold or cruel Ray is to him or to anybody else. Colin is satisfied as long as Ray is satisfied, no matter how physically rough he is having sex with Colin. But Lighton keeps is light with an uproarious scene of the two with bare butts wrestling and it’s no contest. Muscle-bound Ray overpowers the smaller Colin literally tying him up in knots. Painfully happy to be the target of Ray’s attention, you’ll be screaming like our non-athletic grappler and laughing your ass off.
Colin’s parents are a lovely couple and they’re so happy their son is in a relationship despite his punked up transformation. They are charming and supportive, asking to meet Ray. They want to know what kind of person their son is dating. But when he comes, it turns out to be one of the most combative, tense scenes in the film. Lighton creates uncomfortable reactions which shows how Ray is incapable of dealing with people outside of his limited circle. Colin reacts with fear at first, but can he find a way to live without Ray?
This film presents a young man exploring identity and sexuality in a kinky relationship with someone so rigid, he’ll never change. Even though pillion is the seat behind the driver on a motorcycle, Skarsgard and Melling take a backseat to no one.
A24 1 Hour 46 Minutes Unrated
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