The Perfect Neighbor

In June 2023, on a typical suburban street in Marion County, Florida, a white woman named Susan Lorincz fired a handgun through her front door, killing her neighbor, Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four. Lorincz claimed she felt she was in danger, defending herself using the state’s Stand Your Ground law. In reality, as Geeta Gandbhir’s film documents with precision and mounting dread, the killing was the culmination of months of escalating conflicts between Lorincz and her neighbors, whom she treated as unwanted invaders of her space. Brilliantly edited into a gripping and devastating narrative almost entirely from police body-cam footage, The Perfect Neighbor is an intimate account of an appalling, racially motivated crime. Rather than sensationalize a story that’s already been through the media grist mill, Gandbhir has made a humane documentary that speaks to lingering national traumas, the deadly consequences of biased policing laws, and one specific instance of profound loss. A Netflix release.