Netflix documentary film “The Perfect Neighbor”, which was incidentally released yesterday, focuses on one small neighborhood dispute which led to a devastating outcome for everyone involved with that. Mainly driven by a series of archival footage clips, it does not make any direct comment on this tragic incident on the surface, but it eventually makes a clear and strong point on how the American legal system failed to prevent that from the beginning, and it will surely make you reflect more on the serious social problems in the American society behind this alarming failure.

During the first half of the documentary, a number of police bodycam footage clips show us what occurred during several months before what happened in one neighborhood of Ocala, Florida on June 2nd, 2023. In that neighborhood, a middle-aged white lady named Susan Lorincz had kept making a fuss just because she was annoyed by a bunch of neighborhood children playing near her residence, and she frequently called the local police as accusing these kids of trespassing on the front yard of her residence.

Needless to say, many other residents in the neighborhood including the kids’ parents disliked Lorincz a lot. Whenever police officers came to neighborhood after receiving her call, they were not so amused to say the least, as reflected by several moments between them and police officers. Understandably, they all expected her to move away to somewhere else sooner or later, but she somehow did not do that all, even though she frequently said that she would leave the neighborhood someday.

While observing more of the neighborhood, we gradually become more aware of the racial aspects of the dispute between Lorincz and many other residents in the neighborhood. Many of her neighbors are black, and it is indirectly implied to us that her increasing hostility toward others in the neighborhood was fueled by the fear driven by her racial prejudice. 

 As Lorincz kept making more troubles and headaches for her neighbors and their kids, the local police did not do much for resolving this accumulating dispute while merely sticking to its neutral position. Those police officers simply listened to both sides and then just went away after giving some warning or advice, and it is clear that they did not take this matter seriously from the very start. As a matter of fact, Lorincz showed some other alarming behaviors besides her ongoing dispute with her neighbors, but they did not arrest her at all while just warning her a bit.

In the end, something really serious happened on that day of June 2023. When Lorincz harassed one of her kids, a young black mother named Ajike “AJ” Shantrell Owens, who already clashed with Lorincz more than once, decided that enough is enough, so she came to confront Lorincz again, but, unfortunately, she was shot and killed by Lorincz shortly after she angrily knocked on the front door of Lorincz’ residence.

What follows next, which is already shown a bit at the beginning, is the most harrowing part of the documentary. Not only Owens’ family members but also many of her neighbors were quite devastated by what had just happened, and their immense shock and sorrow are palpable despite the raw and rough visual qualities of police bodycam footage clips.

Of course, Lorincz was immediately arrested once the local police arrived, but the local police simply let her go after questioning her for a few hours at the police station, and that certainly brought more anger from Owens’ family members and neighbors. In addition, considering a certain state law on self-defense, Lorincz would not go to jail in the end, and it goes without saying that her status as a white woman could increase that possibility.

Because her sister-in-law was one of Owens’ close friends, director/co-producer Geeta Gandbhir and her partner and fellow producer Nikon Kwantu could get close access to the case, and the result is often alternatively compelling and infuriating. While firmly sticking to the calm and phlegmatic attitude of their documentary, Gandbhir, who deservedly received the U.S. Documentary Directing Award when it was shown at the Sundance Film Festival early in this year, and her crew members never lose the human dimensions of their main subject, and they also did a splendid job of assembling various archival footage clips into a vivid picture of social injustice and systemic failure. As many of you know too well, Owens’ case was just one of the numerous similar cases which occurred in the American society during many years, and the documentary makes a brief but sharp point on that right before the end credits which somberly presents Lorincz’s court trial.

 On the whole, “The Perfect Neighbor” may not surprise or shock you that much if you are already familiar with those countless similar cases including the killing of Trayvon Martin in 2012, but it is still worthwhile to watch for how it vividly and thoughtfully presents its main subject while balancing itself well between compassion and objectivity. Sadly, things have only gotten worse in the American society without much sign of change, but I can only hope that people will become more aware of its social/racial issues via such good documentaries like this one.