Movie Review: The Perfect Neighbor

It feels like it was a near-universal experience growing up that we each had that one neighbor who was known for being mean to kids. Perhaps it isn’t as widespread as it seems, but the image of a local crank yelling at young people to “stay off their lawn” became a widespread meme well before the internet existed and it certainly didn’t arise from nothing. While it could be a nuisance for everyone involved however, I don’t think any of us really expected it to escalate much beyond that, which makes the tragic events of the new Netflix documentary The Perfect Neighbor all the more disturbing.

Assembled almost entirely of footage from Police bodycams and area security cameras, director Geeta Gandbhir’s film shows us how, over the course of several months in a Florida suburb in 2023, 60-year-old Susan Lorincz (known among her neighbors as “the Karen”) consistently tried to get the neighborhood children to stop playing in the open field next to her house because they annoyed her. The actual owner of the land has no problem with kids using it and was even known to join them for a game of football from time to time, but that doesn’t deter Susan from repeatedly calling 911 and making unverifiable claims of harassment.

One might think that there could be at least a little factual basis to some of what Susan claims, though she is never able to provide any proof to support it and what evidence does surface seems only to make her look worse. Nevertheless, her behavior becomes increasingly erratic, even showing her to have the potential to be dangerous and destructive over minor nuisances, and sadly leads to someone being shot.

This is a rough watch, as our initial annoyance with Susan grows more intense before winding up in a harrowing and heartbreaking sequence that sees one neighbor dead and a tight knit community in agony. The footage does feel extremely one-sided, though it’s hard to take some of Susan’s claims seriously or to imagine that anything could have been occurring to justify her actions.

For the most part, the Police come off pretty well here, seen doing their best to diffuse the tension despite also being annoyed with the repeated nonsense calls to the neighborhood. They empathize with the neighbors, especially the children, and try to convince them to stay away from Susan’s unit, though it sometimes feels more out of their own self-interest in not being constantly bothered and nothing is ever done to convince her to approach the situation differently.

In the end, it isn’t clear if anything could have led to a different outcome, though it doesn’t feel like any serious effort was made to do so either. Being comprised of real, on-the-ground footage lends the film an immediacy that ups its impact while occasionally leaving the viewer with the sense that we are seeing something that we shouldn’t, especially when it comes the intense grief of the victim’s immediate family. Despite that, this still feels like a necessary document of several issues facing our country right now (racism, “stand your ground” laws, guns, mental health) as well as a look into the way one person can so devastate an otherwise happy community. It’s a vital piece of cinema that will linger with you. ★★★★½