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Pillion Captivates Chicago Leather Audience With Intimate Power Study

A rapturous Chicago Leather Archives screening spotlighted Harry Lighton’s debut exploring shifting power in a queer biker romance.

Overview

  • Pillion follows Colin and biker Ray, played by Harry Melling and Alexander Skarsgård, in a dom–sub relationship set within a leather subculture.
  • The February 10 screening at Chicago’s Leather Archives & Museum drew an enthusiastic crowd and featured an onstage introduction and Q&A with director Harry Lighton and Melling.
  • Reviewers highlight the film’s sparse dialogue, with Melling’s expressive performance and Skarsgård’s presence anchoring its emotional pull.
  • Lighton’s direction favors silence and texture over exposition, including a striking, wordless opening set to Betty Curtis’s Chariot.
  • The critique emphasizes fluid power dynamics and tenderness rather than voyeurism, framing the relationship’s complexities without easy judgment.