Day 4 Recap: In which Dan talks about money, alcohol, dancing and pot. Oh, and movies.

Ok, LOTS went down yesterday, but here is the quick version

1. Biggest new by far is that Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene, which won the 2010 Rooftop Films Edgeworx Post Production grant, was acquired by Fox Searchlight for $2 million. How cool is that? Obviously we have always believed in the film, but it is really wonderful that the film is getting a theatrical release and will have the opportunity to be seen by people all across the U.S. Congrats guys! Plus it is cool that a Rooftop Films logo will be in there at the end of the film!

2. The Britdocs party is always the most fun party at Sundance. There are a lot of really boring sponsored parties each year, but the Britdocs ladies always rock the house.

3. On a related note, I was reminded once again that you get drunk way more quickly at high altitude. I even danced.

4. I LOVED Azazel Jacobs new film Terri. Really, really beautiful, funny, bizarre, charming. Definitely similar in many ways to his previous films (which I also loved) but definitely funnier than anything that he has done before. John C. Reilly is fantastic and unpredictable.

5. Stuff is just selling like crazy here, and at prices that match or surpass pre-recession levels. My Idiot Brother, Page One, Margin Call, Homework, Win Win, Cedar Rapids, The Ledge, The Greatest Story Ever Sold and others have all already been acquired and at impressive prices.

6. I grew up in Queens and People’s Instinctive Rhythm to Travel came out my freshman year in High School. The first time I ever smoked pot was also the first time I ever heard Bonita Appelbaum. The music of A Tribe Called Quest was the soundtrack of my coming of age, and most kids who went to high school in New York City in the early 90’s would say the same. They are definitely the hip hop group that I feel mostly personally attached to, so Beats, Rhymes & Life, Michael Rappaport’s documentary about the band, would have to be pretty awful for me to not have enjoyed it. Luckily, the film not only doesn’t suck, it is actually really great! I nearly cried two or three times and actually fully cried once. Granted, I am just about as biased as I could possibly be in this case, but–at the very least–Beats, Rhymes & Life will be a huge hit with fans of the group.

7. Gloria Steinem was honored at the Chicken and Egg party, which was pretty cool. Quote of the day: “Hope is a form of planning.”

8. Hell and Back Again is a pretty powerful and beautifully shot doc about a veteran returning from Afghanistan and attempting to recover physically and emotionally from being shot in the hip. I wondered, though, if the extraordinary cinematography, non-linear storytelling, and slick use of audio actually worked against it at some points. I occasionally had to remind myself that I was actually watching a documentary. But it is impressively put together.

And that was yesterday in 503 words.