Reel Rundown: Self delusion in ‘The Perfect Neighbor’ brings the perfect storm

No matter where you might live – house, apartment, whatever – you’ve likely had problems with a neighbor.

It might involve something minor, the occasional noisy party, slovenly lawn care, ignorance of neighborhood speed limits, something that you find irritating but mostly willing to ignore.

On occasion, though, such problems can escalate. Annoyances can evolve into hot issues that, in the rare instance, result in serious consequences.

That latter potential for trouble is at the heart of the Netflix documentary titled “The Perfect Neighbor.” Directed by Gaeta Gandbhir, and based mostly on bodycam and other official police footage, the film tells the true-life story of an incident that occurred a couple of years ago in a Florida suburb.

It was in Ocala, Florida, that a long-simmering feud between a white woman named Susan Lorincz and her neighbors – particularly a Black woman named Ajike Owens – led to a fatal outcome.

Here’s the backdrop: Lorincz had moved into the neighborhood, an area of multi-racial families living in houses set on wide-open streets. It was the perfect setting for children to run, play games and do all the things that children do.

Apparently, though, everything the neighborhood children did seemed to anger Lorincz, causing her to complain incessantly to the local sheriff’s office. In scene after scene, we see her griping to deputies that the children were trespassing on her private property, that they were noisy, they messed with her pickup truck and maybe worst of all that they were disrespectful.

Most of the official law-enforcement footage that director Gandbhir uses was acquired by the film’s producers through Freedom of Information Act requests made by the attorneys working for Owens’ family. And much of what we see contradicts Lorincz’s claims. Particularly questionable was her assertion about trespassing as a large lot next to her house was co-owned by other property owners, none of whom joined her in complaining.

It all came to a head on the night of June 2, 2023, when Owens – following numerous other confrontations – went to Lorincz’s door. Owens was upset because sometime earlier in the day Lorincz had quarreled with one of her sons. Unfortunately, what happened next is not captured on film.

But Gandbhir lets us know right from the start of her film that the confrontation led to violence. And over the course of the film we learn that Lorincz shot blindly through her front door, that Owens was hit – and that she later died.

Not only does Gandbhir’s film examine a situation that seems always headed toward a fatal outcome, but it does so while addressing the stand-your-ground laws that are present in several states, but particularly in Florida. And always there is the racial issue, given who the two principals are.

In the end, we learn how Lorincz tried to justify her actions, and how Owens’ family – backed by the larger community – demanded that she be held accountable. A simple Google search can tell you what finally occurred.

The ultimate message that Gandbhir’s film gives us, though, involves its very title. It comes from how Lorincz, in one meeting with deputies, describes herself: as a “perfect neighbor.”

Turns out, in Gandbhir’s view, that Lorincz had a talent both for self-delusion – and irony.