The Perfect Neighbor Review: Unpacking a Notorious Shooting Through the Lens of a Florida Officer's Body-Cam

The real-life crime genre has a new medium, or perhaps even a completely fresh vocabulary and grammar: police body cam footage. Countenances of those harmed, witnesses and possible perpetrators appear suddenly to the cameras, sometimes in the intense brightness of vehicle beams or flashlights as the officers approach, their faces and voices expressing caution or panic or indignation or suspiciously contrived innocence. And we often incidentally glimpse the expressions of the officers themselves, one waiting impassively while the other conducts the inquiry with what occasionally seems like remarkable hesitation – though maybe this is because they are aware they are being recorded.

A Growing Trend in Documentary Filmmaking

We have previously seen the streaming service real-life crime film The Gabby Petito Case, about the slaying of an Instagram influencer by her boyfriend, whose primary focus was body cam footage and in which, as in this film, the police seemed extraordinarily lax with the suspect. There is also the acclaimed short film Incident by Bill Morrison, made exclusively of body cam film. Now comes a new film by Geeta Gandbhir about the tragic incident of a Florida mother in a city in Florida, a woman of colour whose children allegedly harassed and antagonized her neighbor, Susan Lorincz. In 2023, after an increasing number of neighborhood conflicts in which the police were summoned multiple times, Lorincz fatally shot Owens through her locked door, when the victim went to the neighbor's residence to address her about throwing objects at her children.

The Investigation and State Laws

The arresting officers found proof that the suspect had done online research into the state's self-defense statutes, which allow residents and others to shoot if there is a significant presumption of danger. The documentary builds its story with the officer recordings generated during the multiple officer calls to the location before the killing, and then at the disturbing and disordered incident site itself – prefaced by emergency call recordings of the caller contacting authorities in a melodramatically shaky voice. There is also jail video of Lorincz which has a chilly, queasy fascination.

Depiction of the Suspect

The documentary does not really suggest anything too complicated about Lorincz, or any extenuating circumstance. She is clearly unstable, although the children are heard calling her a derogatory term, an ugly jibe. The production is showcased as an illustration of how “stand your ground” laws generate unnecessary and heartbreaking violence. But the reality of gun ownership and the constitutional right (that historic American constitutional privilege that a deceased pundit notoriously said made firearm fatalities a necessary cost) is not much emphasized.

Officer Questioning and Gun Culture

It is possible to watch the police interrogation scenes here and feel astonished at how little interest the police took in this point. When did she buy her gun? Where (if anywhere) did she train in its use? Had she ever had occasion to fire it before? How was the gun kept in her home? Could it have been easily accessible and prepared? The police aren’t shown asking any of these surely relevant questions (though they could have inquired in footage that didn’t make the edit). Or is possessing a firearm so normal it would be like asking about kitchen appliances or bread heaters?

Arrest and Aftermath

For what seemed to her neighbors a very long time, Lorincz was not even taken into custody and indicted, only held and even offered a hotel stay away from home for the night (another parallel, by the way, with the a prior incident). And when she was ultimately formally arrested in the detention area, there is an extraordinary sequence in which Lorincz simply refuses to stand, will not extend her arms for the cuffs, not aggressively, but with the politely self-pitying air of someone whose mental health means that she is unable to comply. Did the gentle handling up until that point led her to think that this could be effective?

Conclusion and Verdict

It didn’t; and the panel's decision is saved for the end titles. A very sombre picture of U.S. justice and consequences.