My Father and the Man in Black

This heartfelt but ultimately unsatisfying documentary promises a new angle on the Johnny Cash story, but in essence is about one man's search for the father he barely knew. Director Jonathan Holiff is that man and his father was Saul Holiff, the manager of Johnny Cash who was on the road with him for years, leaving a void in his son's life. He eventually killed himself in 2005, so Holiff Jr attempts to piece the past together like a jigsaw using a series of taped diary entries and Cash memorabilia found in a storage unit after his death. Still, this only tells part of the story and too much emphasis is placed on clumsily executed dramatic reconstructions. These scenes are accompanied by meandering narration and interspersed with library footage of Cash on stage to lend an air of authenticity, but the research raises more questions than it answers. Fans of the singer will learn little they don't already know in a frustrating film that gets lost down too many side roads.