No Ordinary Man

Trailer.

Available Summary:

"No Ordinary Man is an in-depth look at the life of musician and trans culture icon Billy Tipton. Complicated, beautiful and historically unrivalled, this groundbreaking film shows what is possible when a community collaborates to honour the legacy of an unlikely hero." -IMDb.

Jack's Summary:

Rather than a straightforward documentary about a historical figure, much of No Ordinary Man features auditions where trans guys read a script and put themselves forward as candidates for the role of Billy Tipton, who was a real-life trans male musician. It's not clear whether this hypothetical film will actually be made. No Ordinary Man tries to walk the line between this odd premise and a genuinely insightful commentary on trans manhood. Much of the time it succeeds, although I think it's somewhat bogged down by the strange approach it took. I found it weird that many of the guys auditioning to play Tipton did not look like him in the slightest, but I think the inclusion of drastically different trans guys is more of a statement about FTM diversity than accurately portraying Tipton.

All that being said, this is a film that features heaps of trans guys at many different stages of their transitions, and with very different backgrounds. Marquise Vilson, Amos Mac, Scott Turner Schofield, Jamison Green, and Ryan Cassata are among the cast. One thing is for certain; if filmmakers say they can't find trans male actors, No Ordinary Man is evidence that they just didn't try.

Billy Tipton Jr. is interviewed, and he is very affirming of his father's identity. Historical footage is played, including interviews with Billy Tipton's family during the furore that arose from him being outed posthumously. In all honesty, I wish this had been a more typical documentary which focused directly on these segments.

Please note that, while interviewees describe Billy Tipton as a "transmasculine" person, that is not a label he identified with during his life. He identified as a man and went to great lengths to prevent his trans status ever being known, wishing to only ever be known as a male. Utmost respect for his identity and non-disclosing lifestyle, in my opinion, would involve using only the labels that he himself identified with; man and male. As a trans man who does not identify with the label "transmasculine", yet has been labelled that way against my wishes, this aspect of the documentary bothers me. It may not bother you, if you do not have similar experiences to mine.