The Perfect Neighbor offers a close-up portrait of the irrational xenophobia that has gripped much of American society and politics in recent years.
Composed primarily of police body-camera footage, the documentary traces how repeated confrontations between a white woman and her predominantly Black neighbors in a Florida neighborhood led to a fatal shooting in 2023. Even if you agree that the deck deserves stacking, director Geeta Gandbhir decidedly frames the film against Susan Lorincz, who repeatedly calls law enforcement on the kids in the neighborhood for playing in a field next to her home (which she doesn’t own). To be clear, Lorincz incriminates herself in the bodycam footage, but it’s also true that the doc includes no “character witnesses” on her behalf, while we frequently hear from adults and kids in the neighborhood describing her aggressive interactions with children. (There’s a telling moment when we hear a boy, via voiceover, saying that Lorincz flashed a gun at him; as he talks, Gandbhir cuts to a previously used bodycam shot of her, the image smeared by rain so she looks like a blob monster.)
I point this out not to exonerate Lorincz in any way—goodness knows that the sheriff’s investigation in the doc’s final third gives her outrageously more leeway than a Black suspect would receive. Still in monsterizing her in this way, The Perfect Neighbor lets viewers off the hook. We can self-righteously point our fingers, rather than consider how our own prejudices and fears might possibly lead us down a similar path—perhaps not to the point of pulling a trigger, but in how we interact with our own neighbors, invest our resources, and vote. One quick final note: as I’ve praised plenty of other documentaries and fictional films for exposing abuses inflicted by American law enforcement (see Whose Streets?), it’s worth a word of appreciation for most of the responding deputies seen here. As recorded on the bodycams, they show the sort of patience and emphasis on de-escalation that should be a model for community policing (see The Interrupters). Unfortunately, there is still a dynamic at play in this neighborhood that is beyond their training and would be better addressed by a psychologist or social worker. Maybe more public money should be funneled to folks like that.
(11/20/2025)
