The Perfect Neighbor (2025) on Netflix
R20251h 37mCrimeDocumentary
Police bodycam footage reveals a long-running dispute between neighbors in Ocala, Florida. Ajike Owens and Susan Lorincz are at its center when the conflict turns fatal.
- Netflix4.3/5
- IMDb7.1/1033,895 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes99%
Trailer
Plot summary
Recordings from the Marion County Sheriff's Office trace a long-running dispute between Ocala, Florida neighbors that ended in gunfire. The film includes deputies' responses to calls from Susan Lorincz in 2022 and 2023, a March 2023 call from an auto repair operator after Lorincz repeatedly struck the gate at his workplace with her pickup truck, and a May 2023 visit in which Lorincz reported complaints in person. Footage also captures the 911 calls made on June 2, 2023, when Lorincz shot and killed Ajike Owens. Throughout, the documentary questions how Florida's Stand Your Ground laws are applied and the role fear and prejudice play.
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Perfect Neighbor (2025)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Director Geeta Gandbhir made the film because the victim, Ajike Owens, was her sister-in-law's best friend; her partner and fellow producer Nikon Kwantu went to Florida and started filming the case out of fear that Susan Lorincz would invoke the stand-your-ground law.
- Gandbhir said the film deliberately turns police body-camera footage on its head: the surveillance tool normally used against communities of color is instead used to show that community's own point of view.
- After Netflix acquired the documentary, part of the licensing fee was set aside for a fund supporting Ajike Owens's mother, Pamela Dias, and her four children.
