USA: VANESSA WILLIAMS HEADS A CAST OF SOME OF HOLLYWOOD'S HOTTEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACTORS IN "SOUL FOOD"

Record ID: 387225

  • Title: USA: VANESSA WILLIAMS HEADS A CAST OF SOME OF HOLLYWOOD'S HOTTEST AFRICAN-AMERICAN ACTORS IN "SOUL FOOD"
  • Date: 14th September 1997
  • Summary: NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA (SEPTEMBER 14) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) GEORGE TILLMAN, JR. SAYING, "WELL, SOUL FOOD MEANS A LOT OF THINGS, MY FAVORITE FOOD IS FRIED CHICKEN AND COLLARD GREENS, AT THE SAME TIME SOUL FOOD MEANS NOT JUST FOOD BUT IT MEANS LOVE, IT MEANS STAYING TOGETHER, THAT'S WHAT SOUL FOOD IS ALL ABOUT"
  • Embargoed: 29th September 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW ORLEANS AND LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA6JMKK7EIVBOTE8VCOIS9K2BG3
  • Story Text: Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and his wife Tracey serve up some "Soul Food" in their debut film from their newly-formed production company, Edmonds Entertainment.

    "Soul Food" crafts a warmhearted tribute to family values in changing times. It uses "soul food" as a metaphor for love in depicting the Thomas family's decline when its matriarch, "Mother Joe", falls ill.

    Writer-director George Tillman Junior's second feature film is set in his native Midwest and is presented as if a distant memory of its young narrator, Ahmad (Brandon Hammond).

    He plays the son of Maxine (Vivica A. Fox), the second of the film's trio of sisters.

    Ahmad enjoys a close relationship with his grandmother, Mother Joe (Irma P. Hall), a much-loved matriarch whose Sunday dinners have anchored her clan for decades.

    Dinner time, though, becomes troubled thanks to the domestic problems of the elder and younger sisters.

    Teri (Vanessa Williams) is a successful attorney who is more committed to her job than her husband Miles (Michael Beach) is to his. He dreams of trading the law office for a career in music.

    Their relationship gets an additional strain with the arrival of cousin Faith (Gina Ravera), whose attractions are sufficient to turn the head of Miles.

    Bird (Nia Long), the youngest sister, owns her own beauty shop and has just married Lem (Mekhi Phifer), an ex-criminal who wants to go straight but discovers that his criminal record makes finding a job hard.

    Bird only makes that bad situation worse, however, when she appeals for help from an ex-boyfriend (Mel Jackson) who still has eyes for her.

    These difficulties are exacerbated when Mother Joe, the family's 'rock' is hospitalised with a life-threatening illness.

    Her absence challenges Ahmad to scheme up a way to reunite the increasingly fragmented family around the Sunday dinner table.
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