Iranian film subtitles lost in translation?

This week I write about the High Museum’s latest program in its “Iranian Film Today” series, its 11th annual celebration of the vibrant cinema of Iran. Based on the screeners for the three films I watched, however, Iranian film might have an Achilles’ Heel: the subtitles. All three films had some kind of glitch with the English-language subtitles. Persian Carpet suffered from the least consequential problem: the subtitles were white letters with no borders, so if the characters happened to be wearing white clothes or standing in colorless landscapes, their words turned invisible. (Austin Powers in Goldmember made an elaborate gag about that kind of snafu.)

Unfinished Stories (pictured) included many of the kind of typos that resemble spellcheck errors. Among the actual lines I read in the film were:

1. A young woman orders “a stake sandwich” at a restaurant.

2. Two different characters “sewer to God” that they’re being honest.

3. “We were chocked up.”

4. “He thinks the boggy man is going to get him.” (Actually, that would probably be as bad as the bogey man.)

5. “But I don’t know anywhere!”

6. “Sir, clime in.”