Stars: Vanessa Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Irma P. Hall

Director: George Tillman Jr

Summary: A family which comes together to eat and enjoy each others company is devastated by their mother's sudden illness. Their traditional Sunday dinners are soon nothing more than opportunities to argue...

SOUL FOOD is a warmly atmospheric ensemble drama set around the abundant table of Chicago family matriarch Mother Joe, whose extended brood orbits around the stabilising force of her sumptuous Sunday dinners. However, when dissent brews between the competitive sisters Maxine and Teri, grandson (and narrator) Ahmad tries to reunite the family. This moving film, written and directed wonderfully by George Tillman Jr., features excellent performances from Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Irma P. Hall and the rest of the talented cast.

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Soul Foodis the kind of movie that seems to have been blessed throughout its low-budget production and it has got a quality of warmth and charm that fits perfectly with its authentic drama about a large African-American family in Chicago. Twenty-eight-year-old writer-director George Tillman Jr. drew autobiographical inspiration from his upbringing in Milwaukee, and on a well-spent $6.5 million budget he succeeded where similar films (including Waiting to Exhaleand How Stella Got Her Groove Back) fell short: he depicts his many characters with such depth and sympathy that, by the time they have weathered several family crises, we've come to care and feel for them and the powerful ties that bind them together. As seen through the eyes of Tillman's young alter ego Ahmad (Brandon Hammond), the film primarily focuses on the rivalries and affections that rise and fall among Ahmad's mother (Vivica A. Fox) and her two sisters (Vanessa L. Williams and Nia Long). Through them, and through the weekly Sunday dinners cooked with love by their mother, Big Mama (Irma P. Hall), we witness marital bliss and distress, infidelity, success, failure ... in short, the spices of life both bitter and sweet. But when Big Mama falls into a diabetic coma, Ahmad watches as his family begins to fall apart without the stability and love that Big Mama provided with every Sunday meal.

Tillman's touch can be overly nostalgic, melodramatic and cloyingly sentimental, but never so much that the movie loses its firm grip on reality. As a universal portrait of family life, Soul Foodranks among the very best films of its kind--believable, funny, emotional and always approaching its characters (well-played by a uniformly excellent cast) with a generous spirit of forgiveness and understanding. As satisfying as one of Big Mama's delicious dinners, Soul Foodis the kind of movie that keeps you coming back for more. --Jeff Shannon

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1997
Release Date:	March 1, 2004
Runtime:	110 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	04493 D V D
Keywords:	Soul, General, Food, Drama
Genre:	Drama