Taglines: Every family needs some.
Soul Food movie storyline. Matriarch Mama Joe has held her family together for 40 years around a Sunday dinner of soul food. When diabetes hospitalizes her, the dinners stop and tensions among her three daughters start to break the family apart.
Two of the sisters feud continuously: Teri is jealous of Maxine’s marriage and irritated that everyone assumes her corporate salary is open to the rest of the family’s uses. Maxine resents Teri’s bossiness and insensitivity to family tradition. Bird, the youngest, newly married to an ex-con, accepts a favor from an old lover that leads to her husband’s arrest. Mama Joe’s grandson Ahmad cooks up a scheme to bring the family together, back to the table.
Soul Food is a 1997 American comedy-drama 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. In 2015, it was announced that 20th Century Fox is planning a sequel for film called More Soul Food, written by Tillman, Jr.
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. A soundtrack containing R&B and hip-hop was released on August 19, 1997 by LaFace Records. It peaked at #3 on the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified 2x Multi-Platinum for over 2 million copies sold.
Soul Food (1997)
Directed by: George Tillman Jr.
Starring: Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Jeffrey D. Sams, Irma P. Hall, Gina Ravera, Brandon Hammond, Gina Ravera, Morgan Méchelle Smith
Screenplay by: George Tillman Jr.
Production Design by: Maxine Shepard
Cinematography by: Paul Elliott
Film Editing by: John Carter
Costume Design by: Salvador Pérez Jr.
Set Decoration by: Joe Bristol
Art Direction by: Cydney M. Harris
Music by: Lisa Coleman, Wendy Melvoin
MPAA Rating: R for some strong sexuality and language.
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: September 26, 1997
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