The Perfect Neighbor is a documentary about the fatal conflict between neighbors Ajike “AJ” Owens and Susan Lorincz in Ocala, Florida. Directed by Geeta Gandbhir, it reconstructs the escalation largely through police body-camera footage and recordings, rather than relying on conventional interviews alone. Netflix released the film on October 17, 2025.
What is The Perfect Neighbor about?
The film follows the conflict between Ajike “AJ” Owens, a mother and member of her Ocala community, and her neighbor Susan Lorincz. A series of neighborhood encounters and police responses precedes the fatal shooting of Owens. The documentary traces that escalation through recordings, while also addressing race, prejudice, policing, gun ownership and Florida’s “stand your ground” laws.
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| 1 |
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The Perfect Neighbor | $29.29 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Capitol DVD-Veggie Tales: are You My Neighbor? | $18.06 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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The Neighbors | $11.47 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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The Perfect Neighborhood: A Novel | $16.49 | Buy on Amazon |
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Won't You Be My Neighbor? | $4.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Director Geeta Gandbhir has said the project was personal: Owens was a family friend, and the film was made in part to honor her and her family. Gandbhir described its intended audience as “A global audience, but also policymakers who can change laws that unjustly harm their constituents.” The policy argument belongs to the filmmaker and the documentary; the film is not, by itself, a complete legal record of the case.
How does the documentary tell the story?
A timeline assembled from recordings
The film opens around the emergency response to the shooting, then returns to earlier encounters, including a police complaint. It builds much of its account from police body-camera footage and audio recordings, sometimes following police visits as the conflict develops. This approach gives viewers a close view of recorded interactions and lets them assemble an escalation over time. It is an editorial reconstruction, not a claim that the cameras captured every event or every point of view.
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Gandbhir said the Owens family’s attorneys obtained an archive of body-camera footage and recordings through a Freedom of Information Act request. The material was created for police work, not for a film: she described its audio as sometimes poor and its images as shaky, with cameras not always pointed where a filmmaker might choose. The production retained much of that raw quality, adjusted color to make people more visible, and used subtitles where needed.
Why the footage matters—and its limits
Because the story is shaped largely by recorded police encounters, viewers experience events through what those recordings captured: the officers’ presence, the people in view and the sound available at the time. The footage can make small interactions and changes in tone legible, but it cannot supply a neutral, all-seeing account. The selection and arrangement of clips remain part of the film’s storytelling.
Gandbhir has also addressed the ethical stakes of showing traumatic material, saying, “We are deeply aware of the harm done by sharing images of violence when it comes to Black bodies and the Black community.” That concern sits alongside the film’s use of unvarnished recordings to convey the immediate human consequences of the violence.
Content note
Netflix’s viewer guide flags discussions of racial slurs and body-camera footage showing the immediate response to and aftermath of a fatal shooting. Viewers who prefer to avoid graphic or distressing material may want to take that guidance into account.
Rank #3
Where to watch The Perfect Neighbor
The film is available on Netflix. Netflix lists its streaming premiere as October 17, 2025; catalog availability can vary by country and change over time, so check the service in your region. The official viewing information identifies Netflix; it does not establish a separate physical release.
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The Perfect Neighbor won the 2025 Sundance U.S. Documentary Directing Award and five 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards: Best Documentary Feature, Best Director, Best Archival Documentary, Best True Crime Documentary and Best Editing. Netflix also reported an Academy Award nomination for Documentary Feature, announced in January 2026.
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Best Value
Rank #4
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