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The Only Girl in the Orchestra
It's definitely not for all tastes, but if you're a musician or have a desire to find out exactly what it takes to be a musician, you should definitely find some pleasure in The Only Girl in the Orchestra, a 2023 Netflix documentary that somehow won the 2025 Oscar for Outstanding Documentary Short.
Molly O'Brien, a television and documentary film producer who has been working steadily since the year 2000, decided to mount this documentary about her aunt, a legendary double bassist named Orin O'Brien who, in 1968, became the first woman to join the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of the late Leonard Bernstein.
One of the first things we get to see that immediately legitimizes the necessity of this documentary is a closeup of a hand-written note from Bernstein describing Orin as a "miracle." The documentary is shot at a real turning point in Orin's life because she is not only retiring, but she is moving out of the Manhattan apartment where she has lived for about 50 years.
Molly cleverly interweaves footage of her aunt working with current students and talking to former students, but allows Orin a lot of time on the audio track to talk about the things that drive her a musician, and surprisingly, one of them is not to be a star. Orin makes it clear here that her desire was to be part of an ensemble, not a star. I love when she describes being part of an orchestra like being a part of a nuclear submarine that cannot operate without her presence.
The film also reveals that Orin is the daughter of a movie star named George O'Brien, whose credits include 1924's Iron Horse and 1927's Oscar-winning Sunrise. It was lovely watching her talk about her father and how sad it was for her to watch as his career began to fade. Not to mention a hectic childhood that included attending ten different schools before she was 18.
The real joy in this film though was watching what drives this woman and it isn't always verbalized. If the truth be told, my favorite scene in the film is when the movers arrive to move her piano out of the apartment and she is watching with such intensity to make sure they don't damage it and at one point, she is even observed dabbing a tear from her eye as the piano legs are being removed. I also loved watching her attending a concert with Molly and all the musicians she is there to watch, get up to greet her. Really enjoyed this, but it could have been an hour and a half instead of 34 minutes.
It's definitely not for all tastes, but if you're a musician or have a desire to find out exactly what it takes to be a musician, you should definitely find some pleasure in The Only Girl in the Orchestra, a 2023 Netflix documentary that somehow won the 2025 Oscar for Outstanding Documentary Short.
Molly O'Brien, a television and documentary film producer who has been working steadily since the year 2000, decided to mount this documentary about her aunt, a legendary double bassist named Orin O'Brien who, in 1968, became the first woman to join the New York Philharmonic, under the direction of the late Leonard Bernstein.
One of the first things we get to see that immediately legitimizes the necessity of this documentary is a closeup of a hand-written note from Bernstein describing Orin as a "miracle." The documentary is shot at a real turning point in Orin's life because she is not only retiring, but she is moving out of the Manhattan apartment where she has lived for about 50 years.
Molly cleverly interweaves footage of her aunt working with current students and talking to former students, but allows Orin a lot of time on the audio track to talk about the things that drive her a musician, and surprisingly, one of them is not to be a star. Orin makes it clear here that her desire was to be part of an ensemble, not a star. I love when she describes being part of an orchestra like being a part of a nuclear submarine that cannot operate without her presence.
The film also reveals that Orin is the daughter of a movie star named George O'Brien, whose credits include 1924's Iron Horse and 1927's Oscar-winning Sunrise. It was lovely watching her talk about her father and how sad it was for her to watch as his career began to fade. Not to mention a hectic childhood that included attending ten different schools before she was 18.
The real joy in this film though was watching what drives this woman and it isn't always verbalized. If the truth be told, my favorite scene in the film is when the movers arrive to move her piano out of the apartment and she is watching with such intensity to make sure they don't damage it and at one point, she is even observed dabbing a tear from her eye as the piano legs are being removed. I also loved watching her attending a concert with Molly and all the musicians she is there to watch, get up to greet her. Really enjoyed this, but it could have been an hour and a half instead of 34 minutes.