Heat (1995)

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[heat-1995]

Every scene in the first 7 minutes has a counterpoint (visually or conceptually or both) in the movie's last act. In order:

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When she feels unheard, Lauren resorts to rash actions, as a cry for help.

At first, it's tearing her mom's newspaper away to get her attention when she doesn't look at her.

Then, it's a suicide attempt to get Vincent's attention, feeling abandoned as he left.

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Neil's first scene. He passes through a transit place, a blurry, anonymous place. He goes under, goes through a hole in the ground surrounded by fences, face half hidden by poles, like undergoing a great journey.

Neil's last scene. He passes through a transit place, a blurry, anonymous place. He dies, his soul going underground, to the world of the dead.

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Vincent's first scene. He shares an intimate moment with his significant other, holding them. It is cut short, for lack of time.

Vincent's last scene. He shares an intimate moment with his significant other, holding them. There is no time for more.

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When Vincent describes his life to Neil, he talks first about Lauren, then about Justine.

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During their first scene, Lauren comes ask her mother for help finding her barettes. Once Justine has answered one question, she ignores Lauren's next remark to talk to Vincent instead.

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Lauren spends the movie slowly distancing herself from Justine. In their first scene, they talk but tensely, and Lauren is disappointed by Justine's lack of care.

In their second scene, Lauren is walking away from her.

Third scene, Lauren is isolating in her bedroom.

Fourth, Lauren is isolating away from home, after having ditched her mom who was supposed to pick her up.

Fifth, she is again away from home, at a friend's house.

Sixth, she's away and this time Justine has no idea where.

Undoubtedly that is the same dynamic Vincent follows.

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At some point in the movie, Lauren is sitting at a bus stop passing time. By chance Vincent & Bosko drive by and pick her up.

When they stop, Lauren doesn't hesitate to go towards him. She also admits to having ditched her mother who was supposed to pick her up. But when it's Vincent wanting to take her home, she doesn't think twice about it.

On the other hand, Vincent doesn't hesitate to pause his prowling for her, which he never does for anyone else & never did for Justine.

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In the kitchen (the domestic center by excellence) of the Hanna's house, we can see some art project on the wall, presumably Lauren's.

One of them is a headless, black human figure, which seems to be a dark suit... the kind Vincent wears. Indicative of a man who is there on the surface only; these women know his work uniform, but not the man inside; maybe because there is nothing to know about him except work.

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At the beginning of the movie, Michael meets the grim reaper :

Michael Bosko has a meeting with Vincent, Michael Cerrito has a meeting with Waingro.

(Nearly 2 hours later, both Michael meet the same fate.)

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Both Neil and Vincent have a Michael in their crew. These Michaels have the same fate - they're both killed during the bank shoot out.

(Vincent is there in their last moment, for both of them.)

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Neil opens the movie by walking into the St. Mary Medical Center, at 1050 Linden Ave in Long Beach.

At the end of the movie, Vincent ends up in the same hospital, St. Mary Medical Center, with Lauren who just attempted suicide.

Several shots parallel each other:

At first, it's an unknown victim. At the end, it's a character we know, someone very close to Vincent - the violence and the consequences got close and personal.

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Eady is said to be renting a run-down house kind of above Sunset Plaza.

Indeed, the scenes at her place were shot at 1870 Blue Heights Drive :

We can find the house's listing here. The real house has 1513 square feet (140 m²), which is really big for one person alone. It was sold in May of 2000 for $600 000 ($397 per square foot) and again in 2001 at $789 000 ($521 per square foot). So it was probably a fixer upper, so for a run down house, let's keep $397/sqft in 2000.

Now, Eady's house seems to be a little cramped, and she says it's small, so we can assume her movie house is smaller that the IRL house. So let's cut half the square feet and keep 750, with still $397/sqft - that would make the house go for $297 750 in 2000. Renting that by yourself can easily be $1 500-2 000 a month.

In 2000, the average income in Los Angeles is $29,938 per year. And Eady is a book store employee and a struggling freelancer, so she should be around there. A $1 750 rent is $21 000 a year, so that's over two thirds of her average annual income.

Let's also note that Eady's house is located in one of the most expensive part of Los Angeles, and she's living alone with no roommates.

She says to have come there for the work, but that's a very peculiar housing situation. It begs the question of how she affords to live there (is she getting help?), and why she chose that house (just for the view?).

Pictures of the view can be found on the neighboring house's listing.

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During the movie's last scene, Vincent & Neil stalk each other with their gun drawn. For Vincent, it is a Colt Officer's ACP. (It famously has an ivory grip.) Meanwhile, Neil has a SIG Sauer P220.

Both these guns use the same ammunition, .45 ACP.

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The same music "Heat", by Kronos Quartet, plays during the beginning and the end credit.

It also plays when Neil hesitates to go after Waingro, while he's in the car with Eady.

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The movie begins and ends in transit places - it begins with a train station, and ends with an airport.

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During the shootout, as death rains down everywhere, there is a water vending machine behind Vincent.