Soul Food (film)
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| Soul Food | |
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| Directed by | George Tillman, Jr. |
| Produced by | Tracey Edmonds Robert Teitel |
| Written by | George Tillman, Jr. |
| Starring | Vanessa L. Williams Vivica A. Fox Nia Long Michael Beach Mekhi Phifer Jeffrey D. Sams Irma P. Hall Gina Ravera Brandon Hammond |
| Distributed by | Fox 2000 Pictures |
| Release date(s) | September 26, 1997 |
| Running time | 114 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7.5 million (est) |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
- For the type of cuisine, see soul food.
- For the television series based upon this film, see Soul Food: The Series.
Soul Food is a 1997 film, produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Tracey Edmonds, and Robert Teitel, and released by Fox 2000 Pictures. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film stars Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Jeffrey D. Sams, Irma P. Hall, Gina Ravera, and Brandon Hammond. Written and directed by George Tillman, Jr. (his major studio debut), the film centers on the trials of an extended African-American family, held together by longstanding family traditions which begin to fade as serious problems take center stage. Tillman based the family in the film on his own, and Soul Food was widely acclaimed for presenting a more positive image of African-Americans than is typically seen in Hollywood films.
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[edit] Film information
[edit] Synopsis
Set in Chicago, Illinois, Soul Food, told through the eyes of 11-year-old Ahmad (Hammond), follows the trials of the Joseph family, a close-knit African American family that gets together to have Sunday dinner together every week, with plenty of soul food to go around. Mother Joseph (Hall) has three daughters, who each have had varying success in life: oldest daughter Teri (Williams) has suffered relationship problems ever since her younger sister Maxine (Fox) stole and married Teri's old boyfriend, Kenny (Sams). Teri's current husband, Miles (Beach), desires to follow his dreams of being an R&B musician. Youngest Joseph daughter Robin (Long)--nicknamed "Bird"--has just opened a barbershop/beauty parlor, and the family is uneasy about her marriage to Lem (Phifer), an ex-convict.
These problems are complicated when Mother Joe, the glue that holds the family together, suffers a debilitating stroke during an operation to amputate her leg (since she was a diabetic) and slips into a coma. Without her guidance, the family begins to fall apart. Teri takes in her troubled cousin Faith (Ravera), who begins flirting with Miles. As an ex-con, Lem cannot find a job, so Bird makes an uneasy deal with her ex-boyfriend Simuel St. James (Mel Jackson) to get Lem a job, but, a series of events eventually land him in prison again . By contrast, Kenny and Maxine are reasonably stable, and expecting their third child. Ahmad, Kenny and Maxine's oldest child, is worried about the state of his extended family, and conspires to find a way to bring them all back together.
[edit] Production notes and soundtrack
Soul Food was shot primarily on location in the Chicago area. A later Tillman-produced film, Barbershop, would also take place in ands be shot on location in Chicago.
The character Miles Michael Beach plays keyboards in an R&B group called "Milestone"; the vocalists of the group are portrayed by two brother teams of professional R&B performers: K-Ci Hailey and Jo-Jo Hailey (of K-Ci & Jo-Jo and Jodeci); and Babyface and his older brothers Kevon Edmonds and Melvin Edmonds (both of After 7). Actor Malik Yoba of New York Undercover fame makes a brief cameo as their studio engineer. Milestone's song "I Care About You" was written and produced by Babyface, and released as a single.
Soul Food's theme song, "A Song for Mama", was written and produced by Babyface and performed by Boyz II Men. Released as a single, "A Song for Mama" became a Top 10 hit in 1997 and is today a popular selection for vocal harmony groups. Another Soul Food single, Dru Hill's "We're Not Making Love No More" (also written and produced by Babyface) was a Top 20 hit the same year, as was Total's "What About Us", written and produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott.
[edit] Reception
The film was a box-office hit, earning over $70 million during its original theatrical run, and out-performing the much-lauded action-thriller The Peacemaker.
Williams won an Image Award for "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture"; Fox was also nominated for the award. Hammond won an Image Award for "Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress", and Irma P. Hall won for "Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture". Mekhi Phifer and Irma P. Hall both appeared in HBO's 1999 adaptation of A Lesson Before Dying, the 1993 novel by Ernest J. Gaines.
Soul Food spawned a follow-up cable television show on the Showtime network. Soul Food: The Series aired from 2000 through 2004 on Showtime, and currently airs in reruns on BET.
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Acapulco Black Film Festival (1998)
- Best Film - Winner
- Best Actor (Michael Beach) - Nomination
- Best Actress (Vivica A. Fox) - Winner
- Best Actress (Vanessa L. Williams) - Nomination
- Best Soundtrack (Various Artists) - Nomination
- Best Director (George Tillman, Jr.) - Nomination
- Grammy Awards (1998)
- Best Song Written Specifically for a Motion Picture or for a Television Series ("A Song for Mama", music & lyrics by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds) - Nomination
- NAACP Image Awards (1998)
- Outstanding Motion Picture - Winner
- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture (Vivica. A Fox) - Nomination
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- Outstanding Lead Actress in a Motion Picture (Vanessa L. Williams) - Winner
- Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture (Irma P. Hall) - Winner
- Outstanding Youth Actor/Actress (Brandon hammond) - Winner
- MTV Movie Awards (1998)
- Best Female Performance (Vivica A. Fox) - Nomination
- Best Song ("A Song for Mama", music & lyrics by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds) - Nomination
- Satellite Awards (1998)
- Best Song ("A Song for Mama", music & lyrics by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds) - Nomination
[edit] Trivia
- Mekhi Phifer, who portrays Lem, is the former husband of Malinda Williams, who portrays Lem's wife Bird in Soul Food: The Series.
- The film was referenced (and briefly parodied) in "The Itis", an episode of the animated TV series The Boondocks.
