09/26/97
MOVIE REVIEW: Soul Food
'Soul Food' satisfies as `cooking from the heart'

By MICHAEL JANUSONIS
Journal-Bulletin Arts Writer

**** (out of five)
Starring Vanessa L. Williams, Vivica A. Fox, Nia Long, Michael Beach, Mekhi Phifer, Brandon Hammond, Jeffrey D. Sams, Gina Ravera, Irma P. Hall. A 20th Century Fox picture written and directed by George Tillman Jr. Rated R, contains violence, sex, nudity, profanity. Running time: 114 minutes.

Soul Food is a pretty daring movie because it looks at the everyday joys and crises of a big family.

No car chases. No shootouts. No monsters. No looney characters. No magic.

Just a lot of good cooking and a heartwarming if slightly sudsy story about three sisters and their husbands as they try to cope with an aging mother's illness, their romantic ups and downs, petty jealousies and financial woes that threaten to tear them apart.

"Soul food cookin' is about cookin' from the heart," advises the sage family matriarch "Mother Joe" (Irma P. Hall) early in the film. She's the glue that holds her family together. No matter what, the family gathers every week to celebrate a 40-year tradition of Sunday dinners at her rambling house. But when she's incapacitated for an extended period, the rifts in this family's values begin to widen.

There's nothing earthshaking or groundbreaking about any of Soul Food, just a well-told tale that celebrates the importance of family life and probes the day-to-day problems of its well-rounded characters. Writer-director George Tillman Jr. makes an impressive feature film debut in a story loosely based on his own relationship with his grandmother while growing up in Milwaukee.

Through a child's eyes

It's told from the standpoint of Ahmad (Brandon Hammond), a polite and bright 10-year-old who promises at the beginning to tell about "the things that pulled us together and the things that pull us apart." Ahmad exhibits a lot of intelligence and more than a few psychic abilities, too. Through him Tillman's script often telegraphs future action.

Thus a warning about leaving a towel on the stove will sooner or later be followed by someone not following that advice with fiery consequences. When Ahmad says, "I didn't know what diabetes was, but I sure was about to find out," you know that something bad is going to happen. Later, he actually says, "Something bad was about to happen," and so it does.

Despite that, it's easy to get caught up in the lives of this extended family because most people in the audience will be able to relate on more than one level as the characters argue about money and old age and love affairs that are falling apart.

The fact that there are so many characters to introduce and get straightened away means that Soul Food takes a little time to warm up. But soon Tillman's characters are in the swirl of a tempest of problems, and we're captivated.

Living and growing

Vanessa L. Williams is the much-married Teri, the daughter who is arrogant about her successful career as an attorney, and resentful about being called on to bail out various family members with cash. Her husband Miles (Michael Beach) is about to give up his career and follow his heart to become a full-time musician.

Vivica A. Fox is her sister, Maxine, who once stole Teri's boyfriend and married him, still a point of friction between them. Maxine has become the family Earth Mother and is Ahmad's mother. She tries to bring people together, but is not always as successful as her husband, Kenny (Jeffrey D. Sams).

Nia Long is the third sister, Bird, newly married to Lem (Mekhi Phifer), who has done time in prison and who has trouble getting and keeping a job because of that. Bird is the impetuous sister who runs a hair salon with money borrowed from Teri.

Other characters will be significant catalysts. Faith (Gina Ravera), a cousin who once lived with Mother Joe, returns from California where she was an exotic dancer. "I'm just not into the straight job thing," she tells the disapproving Teri.

Simuel (Mel Jackson) is Bird's ex-boyfriend. He flits around the perimeter hoping to get her back. Uncle Pete (John M. Watson Sr.) is the crazy uncle who keeps himself locked in his room like a hermit.

Soon longstanding friendships and relationships will be put to the test, fights will break out -- both figuratively and literally, too, in a scary knife-wielding moment -- and marriages will quake. Most important is that the characters will get the chance to change and even grow, which is pretty unusual in today's movies, where too often they're one-dimensional.

A scene stealer

Williams is very good as the brittle, tightly wound Teri, who believes her money will cure all problems. She resents those who haven't pushed as hard as she to be a success. Teri's the one who must change the most as the story progresses, and Williams does it while showing Teri's human side.

Long is on target as the youngest sister, who is tempted by the baubles of her suave ex-boyfriend and tries, wrongly, to help her new husband behind the scenes by getting him a job. Her faithfulness doesn't always reap the rewards she expects.

Fox is gracious as the sister who tries to keep everyone together, but whose meddlesome ways generally get her into trouble with other members of the family.

Strongest of the men is Phifer, poignant as Bird's troubled husband, who is frustrated by his inability to be as successful as his wife. Beach makes Teri's husband a tragically human character who lives in the shadow of his wife's success and who falls to temptation.

Hammond is a scene-stealer as young Ahmad. He's bright, natural and smart without being smart-alecky. He's a refreshing character who is close to his grandmother and has taken many of her best qualities.

Like her, he tries to hold this big family together and the way he does it is quite ingenious, even if he gets some help from a miraculous plot device that is a little too punchy for the script's good.