A documentary by Geeta Gandbhir
Most of us have had problems with awkward neighbours – especially when children are involved. On Sunday afternoons, we’d often get an earful for making too much noise while the neighbours’ menfolk were sleeping off a heavy lunch and a pint at the local (admittedly, this was some years ago).
Ocala, Florida, feels a long way from the Sheffield suburb I grew up in, but The Perfect Neighbour follows a familiar dispute over children playing outside – and it will stir childhood memories for many, no matter where they were raised.
We’re told early on that the documentary is assembled largely from police bodycam footage, which hints at a darker outcome than most neighbourhood spats.
Much of the footage seems uneventful at first, recording a series of police visits in response to complaints by Susan Lorincz – a socially isolated woman whose behaviour becomes increasingly erratic. Lorincz is portrayed as deeply withdrawn, hostile, and possibly unwell. She is also accused of using racist language towards the children next door. As the complaints continue and the police visits mount, the tension escalates. It soon becomes clear that this story won’t end peacefully.
What complicates everything is Florida’s ‘stand your ground’ law. Like many US states, Florida allows individuals to use force – including deadly force – if they can prove they had a genuine fear of serious harm. In a country saturated with firearms, the consequences are disturbingly predictable: people shot for knocking on the wrong door or pulling into the wrong driveway. The law has been linked to 700 additional homicides per year, with stark racial disparities in how it’s applied.
The Perfect Neighbour documents, in granular detail, how everyday grievances can spiral into fatal encounters in a society primed for confrontation. But more than that, it puts America’s ‘stand your ground’ laws under the spotlight – exposing how a legal framework meant to ensure safety may, in fact, be fuelling unnecessary violence and grief.
