Crispin is a soltero who has undergone several heartbreaks with women, broken family ties, and his own personal conflicts. In his evolution as a man, he shows his weakness, his strengths, his confusion.
Philippines
Philippines
I feel like I'm going crazy, how can all of these movies be so great and so unknown??? This is the best depiction of loneliness I've ever seen in a film, and I watch a ton of movies from all over the world, but I check on Letterboxd and just 23 people have seen the thing. It's so frustrating--how come more people haven't seen what I see here? Like, I love Ingmar Bergman, but he never made a film this good.
Anyway... This came out in 1984 but its understanding of the human condition is so sophisticated it could have come out tomorrow: our hero is intelligent, with a good job, a nice home and car, plenty of hobbies, a…
"Sino ba naman ang gusto nalang maging soltero habambuhay. Malimit din akong maghanap ng lambing at init. Kaya lang... kailangang mahulog ang loob ko nang lubusan. Wag niyong alalahanin ang kalusugan ko, kayang kaya ko ang katawan ko. Marahil e, hahaba pa ang buhay ko. Wala naman akong maraming bisyo, eh. Binabalikan ko ang mga kaibigan ko, tinutuloy ko lahat ng hilig ko. Pinupuno ko't pinatitingkad ang mga araw. Walang tigil ang daloy sa akin ng buhay. Napakahirap nang umibig sa panahon natin. Noong unang araw, pagparisin mo lang ang isang binata at isang dalaga, pag-aaralan nila kung ano ang ikaliligaya ng isa't isa. Ngayon, lahat nagmamadali, wala nang panahon sa isa't isa. Mahirap mo nang makilala ang soulmate mo.…
In ‘Soltero’, young upper middle-class Filipinos (as embodied by Crispin, a young professional) are depicted as docile, lacking in purpose and heart. They are incredibly lonely too, constantly in pursuit of what they call a “soulmate” despite the fleeting pleasures of the flesh and the comforts that money can afford. Now this is ironic… because less than two years later, that particular segment of the Filipino population would play an indispensable role in the toppling of a decades-long dictatorship from power.
There’s actually a lot of praise for ‘Soltero’ over its genuine depiction of loneliness in the city, which I get. But watching this film today on the 37th anniversary of the EDSA People Power Revolution, I cannot divorce the…
A real fine portrait of urban alienation and loneliness. A man who looks to have a good life from the outside is yearning for some meaningful human connection while battling with modernity and societal conventions. Jay Ilagan is great and it looks great (terrific restoration). Makes really good use of the city. I haven't seen anything like this from Filipino cinema before so that backdrop makes this more fascinating. Really very solid.
Sagip Pelikula Festival 2021 | Ranked
Kung hindi ako nagkakamali, itong pelikula na ata ang may pinakamahusay na depiksyon ng kalungkutan dulot ng pagkatanda at pagiging soltero sa kasaysayan ng Philippine cinema. Kitang kita sa mukha ni Jay Ilagan ang epekto ng mapait na dako ng buhay, 'yun bang nararamdaman mo na napag-iiwanan ka na ng mga tao sa paligid mo.
Lahat sila masaya, lahat sila may kasama, tapos ikaw nag-iisa pa rin...May katotohanan sa mensahe ng pelikula. Tunay nga na bago sumabak sa pag-ibig ay dapat unahin munang mahalin ang sarili. 'Wag kang mag-alala, may katambal ka ring tulad mo na naghihintay sa 'yo't patuloy kang pinapanalangin. Eh basta, mabuhay lang at magpakabuhay...
If I am not mistaken, this…
Para kay pareng Crispin, hindi ako magsasawang sabihin sa 'yo na,
Balang araw, dadalawin ka rin uli ng pag-ibig.
Sa pagkakataong 'to, patas lang tayo; "Pare-pareho tayong bigo".
Kalungkutan sa pag-iisa.
Kalungkutan sa paghahanap ng sarili.
Hinding-hindi ko rin talaga makakalimutan kung paano inexecute ang mga huling shots ng pelikulang 'to. Bilang manonood, kitang-kita mo talaga, at mararamdaman, 'yong ipinakita niyang mixed emotions. Masisilayan mo talaga ang nagaganap na internal conflict sa kanya. That smile, na nag-transition from pangungumusta to pagkalumbay.
It only made sense for Soltero to end up as an Experimental Cinema product. A piece of work like this would've never survived being marketed to a mainstream Filipino crowd whose inclinations were always in the direction of finality, of seeing the heartbroken protagonist find their true love in the end.
Even to me, the execution of this anti-romantic drama feels partially boring. It's not for the fact that it is lackluster, but that in being so unconventionally miserable in the Filipino sense, this is far from what we usually expect of our top stars. Jay Ilagan really shines through considering how much of the film is spent showing his reflective personality as this indefinitely heartbroken bank employee. For what…
para sa lahat ng mga nagsisikap lumigaya, bagaman nag-iisa. at sa mga may katambal na, ngunit nagsasarili pa rin
akows
It might be easy knock Crispin's head off for his whimsy, naiveté, and stubbornness, but deep inside is a very lonely man driven by only one true goal: to be loved. It's easy to dismiss the film as melodramatic; the dialogue can be hammy at times, bordering, or sometimes confusing its straightforwardness for wisdom or sarcasm, or maybe just plain humor. But this is not a "hugot" film. Soltero is clear with what seems to be the root cause of this melancholy and restlessness - the haste of modernity, the transition of things into obsolescence. And the film cleverly situates its characters, not just Crispin, but the women surrounding him, in a corporate, urban jungle that is slowly becoming something else fast and ungraspable. So we search for love, and want to be loved, because it's the only thing that might remain.
Jay Ilagan, we miss you.
"Pwede bang itigil muna ang pag-ikot ng mundo?" (Eraserheads, 1997)
Hindi ko inasahang sobrang magugustuhan ko ito. Napakaganda ng ending scene! Malayo ang agwat ng mga edad namin ni Crispin, pero sobrang nakaka-relate 'yung lumbay, pressure, takot na mapag-isa.
Also, napakaganda ni Rio Locsin nakakaloka
