No Ordinary Man (film)

No Ordinary Man is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, and written by Aisling Chin-Yee and Amos Mac.[4] It is a portrait of Billy Tipton, the jazz musician who was revealed after his death to have been transgender.[5]

No Ordinary Man
Directed byAisling Chin-Yee
Chase Joynt
Written byAisling Chin-Yee
Amos Mac
Produced bySarah Spring
CinematographyLéna Mill-Reuillard
Edited byAisling Chin-Yee
Music byRich Aucoin
Billy Tipton
Production
company
Parabola Films
Distributed byOscilloscope, Radiant Films International, Les Films du 3 mars
Release date
  • September 10, 2020 (2020-09-10) (TIFF)[1]
Running time
80 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
Box office$15,508[2][3]

The film's production was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. However, as principal photography was already completed, it mainly affected tasks such as editing and post-production work that could be done remotely.[5]

The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.[6] It was subsequently screened at the 2020 Inside Out Film and Video Festival, where it won the award for Best Canadian Film.[7]

Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired U.S. rights to No Ordinary Man. The news of the acquisition of No Ordinary Man comes at an appropriate time as March 31 was Trans Day of Visibility.

Critical response

For Now and The Georgia Straight, Kevin Ritchie praised the film, writing that its "overlapping realizations create a complex portrait while making No Ordinary Man as much about the present as it is about the past. [It] ultimately builds to a moving and surprising climax in which the empathetic trans views of Tipton are finally able to eclipse the parochial tabloid tale."[8]

The film was named to TIFF's year-end Canada's Top Ten list for feature films.[9] It was subsequently named as a Prix Iris nominee for the Public Prize at the 22B Quebec Cinema Awards.[10]

In The New Yorker Richard Brody writes: "In “No Ordinary Man,” the directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt go fascinatingly, probingly further, to question the very prospect of making a biographical film about their subject, the trans jazz musician Billy Tipton. “No Ordinary Man,” in that sense, is a genre unto itself, a meta-biographical film about a musician who earned his place in history posthumously, for reasons that he carefully avoided revealing throughout his life."[11]

References
  1. "No Ordinary Man". Toronto International Film Festival. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  2. "No Ordinary Man (2021)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  3. "No Ordinary Man (2021)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Retrieved August 20, 2021.
  4. Pat Mullen, "‘Inconvenient Indian’, ‘New Corporation’, ‘No Ordinary Man’ Rep Canadian Docs in TIFF Line-up". Point of View, July 30, 2020.
  5. Pat Mullen, "Canada at Cannes: Documentary in the Time of COVID". Point of View, June 25, 2020.
  6. Victoria Ahearn, "TIFF announces all 50 titles for pandemic-tailored 2020 event". Toronto Star, July 30, 2020.
  7. "Inside Out LGBT film fest reveals prize winners early". Toronto Star, October 5, 2020.
  8. Kevin Ritchie, "VIFF review: No Ordinary Man, about jazz musician and trans icon Billy Tipton, packs an emotional wallop". The Georgia Straight, September 19, 2020.
  9. Victoria Ahearn, "Toronto International Film Festival releases Top Ten lists for 2020". Squamish Chief, December 9, 2020.
  10. "Québec Cinéma décide finalement d’inclure les documentaires pour le prix du public". Ici Radio-Canada, May 7, 2021.
  11. “No Ordinary Man,” Reviewed: Portrait of an Artist Enduring Transphobia After His Death | The New Yorker, July 16, 2021.
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