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On Friday, Netflix started streaming a gripping new crime documentary that has to be seen to be believed.
The Perfect Neighbor is told entirely through police bodycam footage, chronicling the events leading up to the tragic murder of Ajike Owens by her neighbor, Susan Lorincz.
Watch With Us thinks The Perfect Neighbor is one of the best films of the year, and an early theatrical run even qualifies it for the Academy Awards.
We explain the real story behind the documentary and why it’s essential viewing.
What Is Netflix’s ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ About?
On June 2, 2023, Ajike “A.J.” Owens was shot and killed by her neighbor, 58-year-old Susan Lorincz, after an altercation between Lorincz and Owens’ children. After the altercation, Owens knocked on Lorincz’s front door and Lorincz fired a single shot at her through the door while her 10-year-old son was next to her. Lorincz was convicted of manslaughter in 2024 and sentenced to 25 years in prison, and her use of “Stand Your Ground” was deemed unjustified.
The murder drew national attention and put Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws further into question, a law which can easily be abused and misused, and directed at people who are not posing any tangible threat. It was also a crime instigated by racial prejudices, as Lorincz’s status as an older white woman in a diverse neighborhood allowed her to exploit her whiteness and shield her from punishment by the police. She allegedly called them numerous times a day to complain about the neighborhood’s largely black, young children playing near her house, yet nothing was done to reprimand her for her bogus calls.
It’s Riveting and Impactful
The Perfect Neighbor utilizes a unique documentary technique — free from narration or talking-head interviews, the entire documentary plays out through months of police bodycam footage recorded during visits to Lorincz’s neighborhood after every call she made. Preferring to show instead of tell, director Geeta Gandbhir uses no narration and allows the true events of the incident to speak for themselves. This method creating a chilling portrait of escalating violence and hatred.
Speaking with the Los Angeles Times, Gandbhir explained that she felt that the footage, in its striking objectivity, had an immersive quality. Thus, she wanted audiences to be able to experience what the community experience. At the same time, the footage paints a portrait of the lively community before the tragedy. While we always see the aftermaths of these types of horrific incidents, we rarely get to see the beforehand, and The Perfect Neighbor allows the joy that the neighborhood once held to still exist somewhere.
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Is ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ Worth Watching?
Yes. In addition to being a damning indictment of Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” laws — which allow people to legally use deadly force should they feel threatened — The Perfect Neighbor highlights systemic biases of the American legal system. For one, the sheer amount of times Lorincz called the police was evidently spurious and incited by her own racial hatred (she admitted to using slurs towards the children, and even threw things at them), yet the police did not feel she was anything more than a nuisance because of her status as an older white woman.
Through its footage, The Perfect Neighbor lays bare the way race is weaponized against others, and the way the carceral state neglects threats that put people in danger due to instilled racial biases. It’s an infuriating reality, and watching the film will likely not leave you satisfied but instead frustrated that this preventable death was allowed to happen. The hope is that films like these, which exposes these injustices, can help enact change.
English (US) ·