Soul Food

Soul Food
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	George Tillman, Jr.
Produced by	Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds Tracey Edmonds Michael McQuarn Robert Teitel Llewellyn Wells
Written by	George Tillman, Jr.
Starring	Brandon Hammond Vivica A. Fox Nia Long Vanessa L. Williams Irma P. Hall
Music by	Lisa Coleman Wendy Melvoin
Cinematography	Paul Elliott
Editing by	John Carter
Distributed by	Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s)	September 26, 1997
Running time	114 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
Budget	$7,500,000[1]
Gross revenue	$43,700,855

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. (in 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.

In 2000, Showtime premiered a one-hour television series based upon the film. By the time the series was cancelled in 2004, it had become the longest running drama with a predominantly Black cast in the history of North American prime-time television.

Film information

Cast

• Vanessa L. Williams¹ as Teri
• Vivica A. Fox as Maxine
• Nia Long as Bird
• Michael Beach as Miles
• Mekhi Phifer as Lem
• Brandon Hammond as Ahmad
• Irma P. Hall as Mother Joe (a.k.a. Big Mama)
• Jeffrey D. Sams as Kenny
• Gina Ravera as Faith

Note 1: Vanessa L. Williams, who portrays Teri, is not to be confused with Vanessa A. Williams, who portrays Maxine in the television series based upon the film.

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 every week, with plenty of soul food to go around. As Mother Joseph (Hall) has three daughters, who each have had varying success in life: oldest daughter Teri (Williams) has become a successful lawyer but has also 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 Ryla (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 diabetic but wise and caring matriarch of the family and the glue that holds it together, suffers a debilitating stroke during an operation to amputate her leg and slips into a coma. Without her guidance, the family begins to fall apart. Teri takes in her troubled cousin Faith (Ravera), who Teri catches having sex 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.

Production Notes

Soul Food was shot primarily on location in the Chicago area. A later Tillman-produced film, Barbershop, would also take place in and 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 sibling teams of professional R&B performers: brothers K-Ci Hailey and Jo-Jo Hailey (of Jodeci and K-Ci & Jo-Jo); and Babyface and his older brothers Kevon Edmonds and Melvin Edmonds (both of After 7).^[2] 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. It charted at #23 on the Hot 100^[3] and at #10 on the R&B chart^[3].

Soundtrack Listing

1. "A Song for Mama" by Boyz II Men
2. "Call Me" (feat. Jay-Z) by Blackstreet
3. "I Care 'Bout You" by Milestone
4. "What About Us" by Total
5. "Don't Stop What You're Doing" (feat. Lil' Kim) by Puff Daddy
6. "We're Not Making Love No More" by Dru Hill
7. "Baby I" by Tenderoni
8. "Let's Do it Again" by Xscape
9. "In Due Time" (feat. Cee-Lo) by OutKast
10. "Slow Jam" by Monica and Usher
11. "Boys & Girls" by Tony! Toni! Toné!
12. "You are the Man" by En Vogue
13. "September" by Earth, Wind, & Fire

Soundtrack Notes

Soul Food's theme song, "A Song for Mama", is written and produced by Babyface. Released as a single, the song became a Top 10 hit in 1997 and is today a popular selection for vocal harmony groups.

"What About Us" is written and produced by Timbaland and Missy Elliott, which peaked at #16 on the Hot 100.

"We're Not Making Love No More" is also written and produced by Babyface and was a Top 20 hit the same year.

"In Due Time" had a video made and stars Big Boi, Andre 3000 and Cee-Lo in an old-style video about their struggles in the "Dirty South".

Reception

Soul Food spawned a popular television series on the Showtime cable network.

The film earned over $40 million during its original theatrical run, 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.

Casting

• Halle Berry and Whitney Houston were both considered for the role of Terri.

• Regina King, Kenya Moore and Jada Pinkett-Smith were all considered for the role of Bird.

• Vivica A. Fox auditioned for the role of Terri but she landed the role of Maxine instead.

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

• MTV Movie Awards (1998)
  • Best Female Performance (Vivica A. Fox) - Nomination
  • Best Song ("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
  • 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

• Satellite Awards (1998)
  • Best Song ("A Song for Mama", music & lyrics by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds) - Nomination

References

External links

• Official website
• Soul Food at Allmovie
• Soul Food at the Internet Movie Database
• Soul Food (TV series) at the Internet Movie Database