Soul Food (1997)

Starring:

• Vanessa Williams
• Vivica A. Fox
• Nia Long
• Michael Beach
• Mekhi Phifer
• Brandon Hammond
• Jeffrey D. Sams
• Gina Ravera
• Irma P. Hall
• Carl Wright
• Mel Jackso

Storyline

When Ahmad Simmons' (Brandon Hammond) diabetic grandmother, Josephine "Big Mama" Joseph (Irma P. Hall), falls into a coma during an operation to amputate her leg, it throws the Joseph family into chaos. Ahmad watches as his mother, Maxine (Vivica A. Fox), and aunts Teri (Vanessa L. Williams) and Tracy (Nia Long) struggle to adjust to the family matriarch's sudden absence, fall into old rivalries, share memories, and work to maintain the long-standing tradition of Sunday family dinners.

Zooman (1995)

 

Starring:

• Louis Gossett Jr.
• Charles S. Dutton
• Cynthia Martells

IMDB.com
Although probably better on the stage this screen adaption has a powerful intensity to it that is worth seeing. And this story of a neighborhood more comfortable remaining silent than speaking up about a murder of a little girl, certainly deserves a bigger audience than it would get on stage.

Taking an interesting dual POV - the child's shooter (Zooman) speaking directly to camera and the neighbors and family playing out their story in a more traditional narrative style, the script highlights the twisted logic of people who know they did the wrong thing but need to justify it.

Definitely worth a look and a think.