No Ordinary Man and Framing Agnes received UK premieres at BFI Flare 2021 and 2022, respectively.
BFI FLARE DOUBLE BILL
NO ORDINARY MAN (2021)
WORDS: Neil Baker
“Billy’s story lets us watch one woman’s bold solutions to gaining a certain amount of recognition in what was largely a man’s world.” – Diane Middlebrook (Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton)
Since its publication in 1998, these words have diminished and dismissed Billy Tipton’s life and gender identity as a mere career choice. Diane Middlebrook may not have intended to do this, but her writing only fed the media storm following Billy’s death in 1989. Words carry unlimited power; they influence public opinion and shape accepted, ongoing narratives. Therefore, these words intentionally or unintentionally reinforced the media narrative of deceit and lies following Billy’s death.
Billy Tipton was born in Oklahoma in 1914 and had a God-given talent for music from a young age. His passion for the piano and saxophone would eventually lead him into the world of Jazz, where he would spend his teenage years touring clubs and dance halls. By the mid-1930s, Billy would earn praise and adoration as he joined the Western Swingbillies, followed by several recorded sessions for local radio in the 1940s. By the 50s, Billy was a self-funded recording artist, having been offered a prestigious position in Liberace’s house band. However, Billy would decline this offer and walk away from fame, choosing to settle down with a nightclub dancer named Tilly.
Throughout their loving relationship, Tilly and Billy would adopt three boys before their relationship ended in 1977. But, as Billy died of an untreated ulcer in 1989, with his son, Billy Jr, at his side, a media storm was about to break.
On arrival at his home, paramedics discovered that Billy’s birth gender was female. A media machine immediately dismissed and questioned Billy’s life as a man, using damaging slogans such as ‘The Jazzy Gender Bender’. However, the complexity of his story was only heightened by some family members stating that they were unaware of Billy’s birth gender until his death. As a media circus erupted, some of his family and friends would appear on TV chat shows where tabloid curiosity dovetailed with blatant transphobia. The 90s media machine would become obsessed with lurid conversations around Billy’s genitals, sex life and deception, further ostracising trans people and his loving sons.
Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s documentary, No Ordinary Man, finally shares Billy’s story with the love and respect he so deserved. Chin-Yee and Joynt’s engaging, informative and bold exploration of Tipton’s life is both creative and empowering, as Tipton’s story is told through a group of trans actors auditioning for a film based on Billy’s life. Unlike most biopics, No Ordinary Man transcends the usual biographical beats as performance, reflection, and analysis combine to create a unique journey into the past and present. Tipton’s life and legacy are coupled with contemporary discussions on trans equality and visibility, resulting in a historical and contemporary documentary.
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BFI FLARE DOUBLE BILL
FRAMING AGNES (2022)
WORDS: Agnes Sajti
Having premiered at Sundance 2022, Chase Joynt’s documentary explores long-lost recordings of various case studies involving transgender clients at the University of California between the 1950s and ’60s. Agnes, a patient at the Harold Garfinkel gender clinic, is considered a figurehead in trans history. Her story was initially thought to be the only surviving case study from the clinic until further discoveries were made in 2017. Agnes’ story is groundbreaking because the UCLA archive material is rare, making it an erased slice of LGBTQ+ history. The importance of this material places responsibility on any filmmaker to ensure that the film reflects the significance of Agnes’ journey. However, while Framing Agnes works in parts, it fails to explore the source material’s historical significance fully.
The film uses a hybrid storytelling format, with contemporary transgender actors bringing six stories to life from available case studies. Here, the style of filmmaking echoes that of last year’s No Ordinary Man; however, Joynt’s solo documentary never quite hits the stride of his previous film with Aisling Chin-Lee. Just like No Ordinary Man, the film jumps between the past and present, with Joynt interviewing the actors about the histories of the lives they reenact. Meanwhile, a scholarly analysis by Jules Gill-Peterson, a professor of transgender history at Johns Hopkins University, is accompanied by archive footage and interviews.
While this storytelling choice worked well in No Ordinary Man, something feels lacking in Framing Agnes, mainly due to its short runtime and multiple stories. However, there is no doubting the power of the reenactments on display. These scenes stand out for their stylistic use of a 4:3 aspect ratio and black-and-white film to portray historical events. Zackary Drucker plays Agnes, while Angelica Ross and Jen Richards portray Georgia and Barbara. Meanwhile, the stories of three trans men are brought to life by Max Wolf Valerio, Silas Howard and Stephen Ira. These stories are wrapped in emotion as we witness the discrimination faced by trans men and women while allowing the silenced voices of the past to resonate with their present-day performers.
Meanwhile, while relevant and fascinating, the sections of academic discussion occasionally read more like a university lecture. Here, Jules Gill-Peterson’s analysis feels wholly cut off from the performers and their emotional journey. This creates a void between the filmed performance and the more standard documentary format. There is no doubt that Gill-Peterson’s analysis helps place some aspects of the transcripts in context and provides an in-depth historical background. Yet I can’t help but feel that her work needed to dovetail more with the performance pieces at the film’s heart.
There are also problems when Joynt and the actors return to their own contemporary identities and discuss the importance of making Framing Agnes and the content of the recorded transcripts. Again, the issue of breaking up the continuity and taking us out of the script’s reality persists, often abruptly cutting away from an emotionally heavy moment to some unneeded behind-the-scenes material. The result is a somewhat confused and, at times, unfocused documentary that, while fascinating, never quite matches the power of No Ordinary Man.
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