Pillion; Definitely a Film

 Hii, 

I´m a firm believer that film should make you feel something, otherwise it´s not really a good movie. I also believe that entertaining films should be messaured differently than "high quality" ones - I would always choose Zoolander over 2001; Space Odysey, after all. 
In this merit, Pillion is absolutely a film. This Cannes winner for best adapted screenplay made me feel intense confusion and a strong "huh" quite a lot. It´s not due to the lack of skill - I feel like whatever the team was doing was done very well. I´m not sure if they were trying to do the same thing though.

The film follows Colin, played by Harry Melling, wallflower efectively shielded by his overprotective mother. He´s quite unsure in his life. This fact is comunicated to the viewer by the fact that he is friendless, his mother has to get him dates and that he works for the police.
Pillion is not just about Colin. It´s a what if scenario - the what if being "What is going to happen if you drop off a Hollywood star in British suburb?" It´s like throwing atomic bomb at the Smurfs village. Alexander Skarsgård (whose performance really brings Ray into life) towers over everyone, too hot to be to handled, yet somehow too emotionally stunned to communicate anything but his desires.

Their love story is anything but romantic. It´s pure strech of power dynamics into everyday life. It´s not Ray´s first rodeo - he initiates Colin into the extreme lifestyle of BDSM biker subculture. From the first moment it´s clear why it´s storywise better for Colin not to have any friends - even I would tell him Girl, leave. Colin doesn´t see being treated like a servant (mixed with disobedient puppy) from day one, with no prior discussion, like a red flag. Viewer, however, might be surprised - blow job behind dumpsters on first date is one thing, but making your date make you breakfast after your first night together is strange.
There are only two factors that make the whole thing non-creepy. First of all, Ray is hot. He shares a long eye contact with Colin when they meet and it´s so indecent I almost got pregnant. Second, Colin seems to enjoy this. 
Before, he was a loner who spent all his time between his parents and work. Now he has a lifestyle, a community and he seems to find a lot of pleasure and pride in being submissive. The film is very good at portraing this newfound self esteem. At the same time, it´s not afraid to balance this feel-good wave of self respect with showing us that extreme dependence on your partner isn´t a good idea. 
Also, while their relationship is sexual, it´s not portraid as somehow sexy. It does not try to glorify anything - I think it´s a good thing that this is a British production, as they keep their bikers average and realistic in the looks department. I don´t think that any wayward youth is going to watch Pillion and think wow, this is exactly what will help me without understing nuance. (On the other hand, I watched both Trainspoting and Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo and still thought that being junkie is cool as a kid. Kids are strange.)

What this film lacks is intentionality. It feels like no one knew what they wanted to tell, and you can see it in the strangely unbalanced story. There´s no journey, just a few scenes, some things happen with both protagonists acting in a way that can get us to the next scene quickly and when it ends, there´s no explanation. No preparation even.
While leaving viewer with more questions can be amazing and contribute to the experience, it has to be done skillfully, not just because you ran out of time. 
This way we have Colin, who is contantly oscilating in different stages of finding his ego, whose story is only finished through a quick montage. The guy we meet at the end after the montage is not the guy we have been watching the whole movie. And I don´t mean it in a synthetic way- in terms of character development, it feels like he jumped from A to Y all of sudden.
This film is not very fair to the viewer. Still, it´s not terrible, just very, very mid. Which is shame, because it has all characteristics of future classic, it´s just the actual content that seems lacking. 


Have you seen this movie? And what film disapointed you the most? 
I didn´t even realise there haven´t been a new post for such a long time, and for that I apologize. I have some drafts that need to be polished, so, see you soon? 
Byee! :D