Jazz musician Billy Tipton is a contradiction. An American artist of the ’40s and ’50s, Tipton lived every day of his adult life with a closely-guarded secret. The contradiction is how that secret – that deception – has inspired so many other men like Tipton to proclaim their truth.

NO ORDINARY MAN details the impact of Billy Tipton’s life. Specifically, the film explores the impact of Tipton being a trans man whose female cisgender wasn’t discovered until after his death – not even to his wife and children. His legacy is used as a jumping-off point to discuss female-to-male transgender feelings as expressed through a gathering of transgender actors (along with a few intelligent panelists).

Listening to these men express what Tipton’s life means to them is illuminating. Most of the thoughts expressed begin with details from Tipton’s life, but every thought carries somewhere more personal and intimate for each man that speaks. Hopes and fears are unveiled with sweet vulnerability, and sad recounts of the past are followed with quiet prayers of hope for the future of trans men.

Co-directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joint moderate the conversation and interweave it with auditions by the actors for a bio-pic about Tipton. Listening to them try to land the part of their icon is a clever trick, since it lets us hear key moments of Tipton’s life as spoken through the voices of these modern trans men. It takes Tipton’s story and makes it their story. This is fitting since the film clearly wants to reclaim the Tipton legacy from a salacious tell-all book written in the wake of the secret coming to life.

The film admits that Billy Tipton never consented to visibility as a trans man. The result is a sweet benediction for a lost soul and broken trust. The admiration these men express serves to wash the body of the dearly departed; their hopes for the future of trans lives serve as beautiful benedictions.

NO ORDINARY MAN is a brave and beautiful statement on Billy Tipton and the many men living similar lives. It declares the truth of trans lives with a clear voice and reaffirms the strength and authenticity of these men. The world is a better place with them living their truth.

Hell, one of them could even be a Billy Tipton for a future generation.