Soltero

Soltero is the Tagalog word for bachelor. It sounds like solitaire, the card game. Although the movie has nothing to do with cards, the main character Crispin Rodriguez (excellently essayed by the late Jay Ilagan) appears to play several games. Each card represents a unique aspect of his singlehood.

A card represents Crispin as a single man hopefully clinging to a lost love, while another illustrates his attempt to be affectionate to someone else again. Whether he wins these games , it is up to you to find out.

Some cards elucidate Crispin's relationships to family members: his mother, siblings and nephew. There are cards that show him as a friend to contemporaries, who like him, attempt to find meaning as they leave the twenties and approach the thirties.

Other cards define Crispin as a man with a stable job, enabling him to live relatively comfortably amid the political and social instability of the 1980s. Although Crispin is quite well-off, there is something missing in his existence. This void continues to resonate to audiences.