When audiences flocked to watch the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk The Line, they did not learn much about his one-time manager, Saul Holiff and they probably didn’t mind. But the pair had a troublesome relationship which started off with the two arguing and becoming enemies (and their association ended in a similar fashion) plus they lived through respective additions and difficult private lives and they tousled over different religious beliefs. The documentary, My Father & The Man In Black sees Holiff’s son, Jonathon Holiff as writer, producer and director and piecing together his estranged father’s past in a clunky, but interesting way.
Holiff Jr. did not have a happy time with his Dad. The senior Holiff often treated his son like an adult to be managed rather than a child to be parented. In 2005 Saul Holiff killed himself, leaving behind no note and requesting no funeral or “family”. This confused his son, who wanted to know why the old man was so angry. Jonathon got his answer, however, in a storage locker that was filled with Johnny Cash memorabilia and taped conversations and audio diaries from 1958 to 1973, when Saul met and ultimately managed Cash.
The film opens dramatically and unnecessarily with a recreation of Saul Holiff’s suicide in 2005. This scene is overlayed rather confusingly with the sounds of upset concert goers from the 1960s when the then drug-addled Cash did so much damage to his voice that he was forced to cancel shows and entire tours. It perhaps is used to warn the viewer of the turbulence to come.
This documentary is also rather awkward in that Holiff narrates a lot of the story in the same overly-dramatic way as the opening scene. He also recreates many events with different actors and shows these alongside strange animations and precious archive footage like musical recordings, videos and photos. The story itself is not linear and tends to jump to different points in space and time, lending it a busy feel. Also, the ending is given away (that the principled and strong-willed Holiff quit the superstar when the latter was in his prime and that the former died by his own hand) before the story has even really begun.
Over 87 minutes we get a very personal character study of the director’s father and the latter’s relationship with Johnny Cash. The two men seem to have endured a lot of pressure and are like tense, ticking time bombs and there are lots of good anecdotes about the pair. But despite these, it often feels like the story is incomplete and is only a partial portrait showing some of the shades and layers of all three men (the father, son and Man in Black). Both Holiff Sr. and Cash are certainly complex and intriguing characters and it seems that Saul was the more serious and stronger of the two (at least in terms of self-regulation) as he was frequently ready to pick up the pieces that the erratic and self-destructive artist left in his wake.
In My Father & The Man In Black we learn about how a strong-willed and exasperated Canadian Jewish man came to manage a destructive, Southern Baptist. Along the way we learn how instrumental Holiff was in pairing Cash with his future wife, June Carter-Cash and how the manager would set the stage for the singer’s famous prison shows at Folsom and San Quentin. During a period when Cash was abusing drugs and alcohol, cancelling shows and being charged for starting a forest fire, Holiff was able to lift Cash out of the chaos and help him walk the line to superstardom. But it was also Holiff that was ultimately left unfulfilled and conflicted over neglecting his two sons. In this somewhat cathartic process, Jonathon Holiff learns that his father may not have left behind an explicit note filled with love, but he did leave an interesting story and legacy.
My Father & The Man In Black is part biopic and music documentary and even a sort of instructional guide on how not to parent. The film is an interesting look at the struggle, sacrifice and hard work that was required to manage a difficult superstar and the casualties that resulted along the way. It has some good historic nuggets that are bound to intrigue fans of the country singer and while at times it is dark, tormented, sad and remorseful, it does ultimately offer a silver lining of sorts.
Review Score: TWO AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
My Father & The Man In Black aired on Foxtel’s STUDIO channel earlier this month.
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