A One Mann’s Movies review of “The Perfect Neighbor”. (2026, 3.5*, 15).
One of the Oscar-nominated documentaries, “The Perfect Neighbor” is a true-crime story of a neighbourhood dispute that turns ugly.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
Susan Lorincz is a white ‘Karen’ living in Marion County, Florida who hates the noise of the kids playing on the adjacent land. The police are called countless times to intercede. But things turn nasty when Susan acquires a gun and the mother of one of the kids, , Ajike Owens, goes to argue with her over her increasingly aggressive behaviour.
Certification:
UK: 15; US: R. (From the BBFC website: “Strong language, distressing scenes”.)
Talent:
Directed by: Geeta Gandbhir.
Running Time: 1h 36m.
Summary:
Positives:
- A well-compiled documentary fuelled primarily from police body cameras of a slow-motion car-crash of a situation.
- A tense conclusion in the court room.
Negatives:
- These types of true crime stories, police interrogations and trial footage are ten-a-penny on TV.
Full Review:
A slow-motion car-crash.
I went into this without knowing the case or the outcome of the case… which is the right way to approach this if you have the choice. (As such I’m going to be very vague in this review.) But because the film teases with the incoming report of a shooting to start the film, you know that this is not going to be a documentary about verbal arguments between neighbours.
As such, there is a building tension as you see the numerous police visits to the same address, with a sense of Groundhog Day about the way that Susan reels off her complaints to the officers and they always tend to side with the families across the road… that this is just ‘kids being kids’. As the officers say, they’d rather have them out playing on the grass rather than have their faces buried in video games or TikTok.
Incident.
Events obviously escalate leading up to the shooting itself which is traumatic to observe as Ajike’s distraught young son bellows for people to come and save his mum. Fortunately, the police and medical teams are quick to the scene and as Ajike is taken to hospital the police confront the panicked Susan to ‘detain’ her.
Racist undertones.
There is a strong undercurrent of racism in the film. Although the neighbours ‘across the road’ are a mix of black and white, the crux of the issue is that a white woman shot a black woman through a door, invoking Florida’s controversial “Stand Your Ground” laws. This Florida law (Statute 776.013):
…”allows individuals to use deadly force without a duty to retreat if they reasonably believe it is necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or a forcible felony. It applies in any place a person has a legal right to be, including dwellings and vehicles”.
But as one black observer comments as Susan returns to her (wrecked) property to collect some things, “Why is she free to do this? Why isn’t she under arrest and in jail?”. The strong implication is that if she had been black, then she would have been.
Which way will the jury go?
What follows is a police investigation into the shooting and a jury trial. This includes some fascinating footage of Susan being interrogated in a police cell.
In terms of the subsequent trial, with Susan looking the shadow of her former self, we perhaps could have seen more of the arguments of the prosecution and the defence. But as a viewer without knowledge of the case, I became quite tense since I really wasn’t sure which way the judgement might go.
A good documentary, but…
So, this is a fascinating documentary, but my only reason to vote it a little bit lower is that there are so many of these types of true-crime programmes and series on the TV that it doesn’t feel particularly novel. It is also very similar (given all of the police bodycam footage) to the Oscar-nominated documentary short from last year, “Incident“.
Summary Thoughts:
A well-made true-crime documentary, but not a subject that is particularly novel.
Where to watch?
At the time of writing, the film is available to view on Netflix.
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNp85HGJtoo .
Subscribe
Don’t forget, you can subscribe to One Mann’s Movies to receive future reviews by email right here. No salesman will call!
