Playing an emotionally repressed middle aged man doesn't sound like much of a stretch for Jay Ilagan, but for the first time in his career, he fully sustains and builds on that tension from scene one to the final fade-out of actor/director Pio de Castro III's feature debut, Soltero (Experimental Cinema of the Philippines, 1984). It is an outstanding performance from Ilagan, not especially because it is a departure for him, but because the part itself is such a perfect match for his habitual and superbly calibrated performance register: withdrawn, pained, but sensual, with sparks of wit and fun. Surrounded by people but lonely and alone, Crispin might as well be invisible; so he leaves things unsaid with family and colleagues. Soltero is slowed by its own beauty, but it is salvaged by a trio of majestic scenes. In one, Crispin in a phone call from his mother (Irma Potenciano), during which his voice must betray nothing, leaving his face (on which the director is smart enough to keep the camera to do all the work); in another, the gentle sadness of an evening with RJ, whose own loneliness of abandonment is as inconsolable as Crispin’s. Chanda Romero’s performance finds the woman’s heart, though, even as she reveals a selfishness that is as monstrous as it is oddly innocent. Innocent, too, but oddly wise, is Christina (Rio Locsin), demonstraing grace, intensity and a relentlessness that is less evocative than romance of a most sentimental type. And a hopeless romantic is what Crispin with the object of his romance taken from him and a world at large that refuses to recognize its legitimacy or his loss. De Castro focuses on details, he's visualized Bienvenido M. Noeirga's screenplay with every shot precisely framed — the overall effect is the disjointedly peculiar focus of a psyche that is overwrought and acutely, painfully aware of everything around its profound isolation. If the obvious symbolism of Crispin crying inside his white Volkswagen Beetle is a hackneyed device unworthy of the rest of the film, De Castro overcomes it with a stream-of-consciousness style that is both stylish and heartfelt. As the smog in Manila causes such beautiful sunsets, sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty. De Castro has found the beauty in despair without cheapening either. Soltero is centrally about someone who's finally learning to live in the moment — a moment that has been made, on screen, at once wrenching and ravishing.
Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, Soltero is sourced from a new 2K restoration that was undertaken by ABS-CBN FIlm Restoration. First, even though there are a few areas where small fluctuations are present, overall density is improved on the new release. Second, the color grading is better and as a result there are entire segments where image balance is improved. In some cases, black crush is eliminated; elsewhere the tonal balance is different and there are entirely new ranges of nuances and even highlights Third, there are improvements in terms of image stability; the most obvious examples of edge instability are essentially eliminated. Finally, it is very easy to tell that careful manual cleanup was performed because many of the small but noticeable scratches, flecks and vertical lines have been eliminated. There are no traces of problematic degraining or sharpening adjustments. There is only one standard audio track: Tagalog LPCM 2.0. Optional English subtitles are provided for the main feature. The stereo track has a limited dynamic range, but clarity is very good. However, while there is no distracting/thick background hiss, in the upper register some thinness occasionally can be noticed. On the other hand, it appears that some additional cleanup and stabilization work was done because overall fluidity appears slightly better. Exposed to searching close-ups throughout, Jay Ilagan gives the performance of his career as Crispin and subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, gradations of visual texture reflect and complement his changing moods. Soltero is a self-conscious, superbly crafted, deeply felt movie. It's the story of a man in several senses, but also everyman in the way the viewer responds to him.
Sound: Ramon Reyes, Sebastian Sayson
Music: Sonny Angeles
Production Design: Cesar R. Jose
Editing: Edgardo Jarlego
Cinematography: Clodualdo Austria
Screenplay: Bienvenideo M. Noriega, Jr.
Directed By: Pio de Castro III
