Soul food

For the type of cuisine, see soul food.

Soul Food is a 1997 film, produced by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Tracey Edmonds, and Robert Teitel, and released by Fox 2000 Pictures. It stars Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Irma P. Hall, 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.

Contents

1 Film information

1.1 Synopsis
1.2 Release and reaction

2 Spinoff
3 Trivia
4 External links

Film information

Synopsis

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Set in Chicago, Illinois, Soul Food, told through the eyes of 11-year-old Ahmad Chadway (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 Chadway. Teri's current husband, Miles (Beach), desires to follow his dreams of being an R&B musician. Youngest Joseph daughter Tracey (Long)--nicknamed "Bird"--has just opened a barbershop/beauty parlor, and the family is uneasy about her marriage to Lem Van Adams (Phifer), an ex-convict.

These problems are complicated when Mother Joe, the glue that holds the family together, suffers a debilitating stroke and slips into a coma. Without her guidance, the family begins to fall apart. Teri takes in her troubled cousin Faith (Gina Rivera), 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. 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.

Release and reaction

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

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".

In 2006, "The Itis" episode of The Boondocks featured an extended criticism of the movie, in which main character (and mouthpiece for ceator Aaron McGruder) Huey accuses the film of actually being a negative representation of and influence on the African American community. Huey points out that the family's bonding tradition, the consumption of soul food, served to destroy the family's health and eventually led to Mother Joe not only losing one of her limbs but also dying. Huey further went on to note that, even though Mother Joe's amputation and death could most likely have been avoided through a healthier diet, the ending of the movie features the main characters indluging in a feast of the very same foods that probably killed Mother Joe, setting themselves up for the same fate.

Spinoff

Soul Food spawned a follow-up cable television show on the Showtime network. aired from 2000 through 2004 on Showtime, and it currently airs in reruns on BET.

Trivia

Soul Food's theme song is "A Song for Mama", 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.

Miles 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.

Filming locations include Chicago and Oak Park, Illinois, USA.

External links

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