JET (September 29, 1997)

Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long And Irma P. Hall Star In Movie ´Soul Food´

Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long and Irma P. Hall lead an all-star cast in the movie Soul Food, which celebrates family and shows that soul food not only has to do with what's on the plate, but what's in the heart.

Williams, Fox and Long are sisters, and Hall plays their mother in the heartfelt family movie which demonstrates the importance of family and its survival through tragedy.

Hall is Mother Joe, the matriarch of the Joseph family. She is the glue that holds everything together. It's at her home where her daughters and their families gather every week for the traditional Sunday dinner. The women prepare delicious soul-food dishes like fried chicken, sweet cornbread, smoked-cooked ham, macaroni and cheese, deep-dish cobbler and other down-home dishes, while the men just wait for the feast to begin. Mother Joe will do anything and everything to keep her clan together through good times and bad.

The eldest sister, Teri (Williams), is the family success story. An attorney with brains and beauty, she is married to Miles, played by Michael Beach, also an attorney, but his heart lies in his music career.

The middle sister, Maxine (Fox), is the wildest and strongest of the three. She is happily married to Kenny, played by Jeffrey D. Sams, and they are the proud parents of three children.

The youngest sister, Bird (Long), is a combination of her two older siblings. A newlywed to an ex-convict, Lem, played by Mekhi Phifer, she opens a thriving new business as her husband struggles to find his own place in the world.

The Joseph family story in Soul Food is told through the eyes of Maxine and Kenny's son, Ahmad, played by Brandon Hammond. He has a special relationship with his grandmother whom he affectionately calls Big Mama.

Mother Joe, in her wisdom, keeps the family peaceful. But when she suddenly falls ill, the rest of the family begins to crumble.

As the grown-ups continue to fight, relationships threaten to crumble. Ironically, it is young Ahmad who pieces back together the broken parts of the Joseph family and restores the tradition of Sunday dinners.

Williams notes that she felt a strong element of identification with the movie.

"When I read the screenplay, I realized there were several parallels with my own life," she comments. "My grandmother was also an important part of my growing up, and like Mother Joe, she was stricken by a serious illness. And I have wonderful memories of cooking with her during Thanksgiving and other family events."

Hall explains that the important concept of family in Soul Food cannot be overemphasized. "As long as the family is united," she says, "it can achieve anything."

Fox adds that the emphasis on family in Soul Food is "something we see all too rarely in films today."

Fans of Grammy Award-winner Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds will be delighted to learn that he is the executive producer of the film. His wife, Tracey E. Edmonds, makes her motion-picture debut as co-producer with Soul Food. This is the first film from the couple's Edmonds Entertainment.

Soul Food was written and directed by George Tillman. A novel Soul Food, inspired by the movie script, later was penned by LaJoyce Brookshire.

Tillman based Soul Food on his experiences as a child growing up in the Midwest. He explains that the coming together for meals is important in Black families, but soul food is more than just down-home dishes.

"Soul food means life," he says, "and the ability to continue to grow and come together as a family."

On Soul Food's soundtrack Babyface brings together some of the industry's most talented artists. Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman formerly of Prince and the Revolution, are the film's composers. Artists on the soundtrack are En Vogue, Boyz II Men, Tony Toni Tone, BLACKStreet, Outkast, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jodeci and After Seven. The latter two groups join Babyface in the film as the fictitious band "The Milestone."