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Alexandre Desplat - Argo OST: an album guide
Another Oscar hopeful in the soundtrack category, Argo is one of the year's most acclaimed movies, but what does Alexandre Desplat's soundtrack hold in store?
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1. Argo soundtrack guide 18
Argo soundtrack guide
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2. A Spy in Tehran
It doesn't stay low-key for long, though. The movie takes place during the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979, and Desplat's music is careful to absorb as much of the Iranian culture as possible.
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3. Scent of Death
Affleck stars as Tony Mendez, a CIA specialist tasked with liberating six hostages from Iran. However, his solution to the problem is rather different to the norm...
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4. The Mission
Mendez's solution is to pose as a filmmaker scouting in Tehran for suitable sci-fi filming locations for a fictional film called Argo - and with the absence of any better ideas, his supervisor Jack O'Donnell (Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston) agrees.
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5. Hotel Messages
Mendez enlists the help of a Hollywood make-up artist (John Goodman) to make the transformation of his team all the more believable.
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6. Held Up By Guards
Alexandre Desplat's score isn't the only part of Argo to be nominated for a prestigious Academy Award - for the first time, director Ben Affleck is up for one as well.
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7. The Business Card
A cryptic title for a typically atmospheric little sketch from Desplat... Pictured is the actual film poster created for the fake movie of Argo.
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8. Breaking Through The Gates
Crucially, Desplat never forgets that Argo is supposed to be a thriller - so the music responds when the narrative moves suddenly into top gear.
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9. Tony Grills the Six
When Tony Mendez finally locates the missing hostages, it sets off a bizarre and confusing chain of events that leads all the way back to The White House.
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10. The six are missing
The alarm is raised, alerting the hostages Iranian would-be captors that they've vanished - cue nervy music from Desplat, complete with vocalised percussion.
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11. Sweatshop
More vocalised percussion from the Desplat score gives the deepening trouble of the six escapees and Tony Mendez that little bit more dramatic tension.
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12. Drive To The Airport
The action of the movie builds to a climax at a dramatic race-against-time scene at the airport in Tehran - Desplat conveys the necessary trepidation in his score.
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13. Missing Home
Argo also features a winning turn from veteran actor Alan Arkin as John Goodman's assistant in Hollywood.
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14. Istanbul - The Blue Mosque
A dark mood descends in Desplat's soundtrack, as ever the counterbalance to some of the more ridiculous on-screen antics.
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15. Bazaar
In the nick of time, the six hostages are allowed to leave the country and their hostage situation behind them.
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16. Cleared Iranian Airspace
Finally free from their hostage situation, the hostages and Mendez head back to America. The soundtrack concludes with a surprisingly reflective piece that sums up their bizarre and strangely comic experience.
