In ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ doc, a crime brews for months with the potency of a horror movie

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When police respond to calls from a particular street in Marion County, Florida, they consistently find something surprising: instead of a crime, they find families enjoying themselves. The officers are often relieved and quickly realize the real issue isn’t the kids playing, but rather Susan Lorincz, a resident who repeatedly calls to complain. Their bodycam footage shows they easily connect with the families and understand that Ms. Lorincz is the actual source of the disturbance, preferring the children have fun rather than imagining worse scenarios.

Geeta Gandbhir’s documentary, “The Perfect Neighbor,” offers little comfort as it details a series of police calls leading up to a tragic event. The film quickly reveals that it’s about a night in the summer of 2023 when a woman named Lorincz shot through her front door, killing her neighbor, Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four. Knowing the outcome makes watching the events leading up to it deeply unsettling.

The recently released bodycam footage shows a community that didn’t deserve the trouble it faced—and certainly not the tragic outcome. It’s a difficult story to process, but vitally important, especially if we want to understand the complex issues dividing our country. This is particularly true for people of color living in states with “stand your ground” laws, where these issues put their lives at risk.

“The Perfect Neighbor” is a truly frightening documentary, constructed from actual police recordings. But beyond the horror, the film exposes how simmering resentment and a legal system that fuels white fear can unintentionally create tragic violence, rather than prevent it.

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Gandbhir, a close family friend of Owens, was granted access to two years of bodycam footage and interviews from the Marion County Sheriff’s Office. Instead of using this material for traditional flashbacks, she presents a story built directly from the raw footage. This allows viewers to evaluate a neighborhood dispute firsthand, relying on their own judgment and empathy, through around half a dozen police calls – all triggered by the anxious and frustrated Lorincz. We witness this conflict unfold over a period of 14 months.

“The Perfect Neighbor” stands out because it takes a bold approach to storytelling, especially at a time when documentaries often rely on narration and interviews to provide complete background information. Director Ronit Gandbhir, however, believes viewers are capable of understanding the situation simply by seeing what happened, trusting that the events themselves clearly demonstrate who was at fault. The film highlights clear signs of the neighbor’s mental health struggles and shows police consistently advising residents on how to manage her behavior, but never the other way around. What’s particularly striking is how readily law enforcement appeased this woman’s prejudiced and threatening actions, seemingly unaware of the potential for escalation in a state where people have the right to defend themselves with lethal force.

Following the murder, the documentary cuts between interrogation recordings and footage of the devastated community protesting, revealing how easily some people are given the benefit of the doubt. While “The Perfect Neighbor” ultimately delivers a satisfying sense of justice, it’s unsettling to consider that unchecked anger played a role, and that a crime was able to occur in an otherwise trusting and safe American neighborhood—a place where a mother readily embraces all the local children as her own.

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2025-10-10 13:31