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It is also the right touch for a story about Haggard's afterlife: after two decades of pastoring a megachurch, after high-profile years as an international spokesperson for evangelicalism, and after a very public sex-and-drugs scandal that brought his life to the ground. Pelosi's movie follows Haggard as he applies for his first job, takes up golfing, moves from house to house, and sorts through the remains of his life. Her camera is compassionate toward him inasmuch as it allows him to have that afterlife, but it's also unflinching in capturing his fear, his anger, and his confusion about his own identity. 

Pelosi was kind enough to answer a few questions by email. Our exchange is after the jump. 

Note: I sent these questions to her on Friday, before the story broke that another young man says he had a sexual encounter with Haggard. Pelosi mentions that new story in one of her answers below. 

Film fans know this, we say it every year, and yet, and yet...it's still disappointing when our favorite films are overlooked. My Facebook friends are boo-hooing over Christopher Nolan's near miss at a Best Picture nod for The Dark Knight (I don't share their sense of loss; it's a stunning movie with the best villain performance in years, but has no sense of story). The real loss is that the Academy didn't see fit to nominate Wall-E, which is as close to a masterwork as we've seen in film this year. It's also a perfect 2008 movie: in the year that we most radically came face to face with the consequences of our over-comsumption, we had a gorgeous, prophetic movie about that exact subject, both chiding us and showing us how to overcome ourselves. 

It's a shame that animated films don't get nominated for Best Picture, because it is not unusual for some of the best storytelling, cinematography, acting, and all-around movie-making to happen in cartoons. The Iron Giant, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Ratatouille were all among the best films of their years, and that's just to mention American work. 

I've yet to see Slumdog Millionaire, The Reader, or Frost/Nixon--studios are still reluctant to shed their old rollout distribution habits, so it takes forEVer for good movies to get to Colorado Springs. (But hey, Fireproof is still showing!). So of the nominated pics, so far my vote would go to Benjamin Button. Awesome movie to look at, with fine acting. Way too Forrest Gump-y for my usual tastes, but I was taken in by its audacious attempt to tackle big huge human themes: Loss. Regret. Responsibility. Colorado's own David Fincher has proven his ability to make movies in the big, classy old Hollywood style. 

Movie Mom blogger Neil Minow put together a list of the top Comfort Movies--flicks that go down just right on those no-good, crummy, sniffling, sneezing days. Not a bad list, and hard to quibble with something as idiosyncratic as this. But what are your favorite movies for days like that? 

My five faves, in no particular order:

The Karate Kid 

Bottle Rocket 

(Ok, so I like my comfort a little on the morbid side.)

But it's a list of movies to savor, and a fairly unique list, as these things go. The Best Years of Our Lives? Check--a gorgeous movie that manages to be both sentimental and realistic, which is no small feat. Sunset Blvd. and Double Indemnity would make my own American Top 10; Red River, Raging Bull, and Vertigo are among the best movies by three of our best directors. Groundhog Day? Why not? It's definitely worth considering a smart, subversive comedy like that for inclusion on a list like this. 

I'd quibble with Meet Me in St Louis--you gotta include at least one musical on any list of great American films, but many entries could trump that one: Singing in the Rain, Swing Time, Mary Poppins, Moulin Rouge!. 

I've not seen Fish's others, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or Shane. 

What's missing? Fish says he could have included Nashville (Altman definitely deserves props) and The Night of the Hunter, a film after my own heart. I'd also want to include Annie Hall, Citizen Kane, The Godfather (and II), Imitation of Life, perhaps Do the Right Thing, and something by the quintessential American director, Stephen Spielberg (tho I'd have to consider which is more essential--E.T./War of the Worlds Spielberg, or Schindler's List/Munich Spielberg).