We already knew that the outdoor Dallas Music District Festival had an enviable list of bands playing at its inaugural edition on May 16 and 17 along the Trinity River. But now the festival has become an even bigger draw thanks to the just-released list of vendors that will be on hand.
And we're not talking about hot dogs, popcorn and T-shirts here. Instead, festival organizers have lined up a slew of local artisan vendors to sell you things like jewelry, leather goods, clothing, pottery and more.
Among the 26 vendors are brands such as Artigianale, Far Fetched Imports, Hari Mari, Mistura Timepieces and Sunshine Tienda. To sate your hunger and thirst, you can turn to Jazzy Fat's Cajun Classic, Steel City Pops, This City's Best Italian Ice and others.
"The goal of DMD Fest 2015 is to highlight the best of what Dallas has to offer," said DMD Fest Jerry Su in a release. "We are so proud that DMD Fest will be able to provide a little something for everyone, including a truly beautiful outdoor setting right on the Trinity River."
The festival also will have a strong art aspect, as organizers have teamed up with the nonprofit Music Is Our Weapon to create various interactive art installations. Among those will be a graffiti wall where local artists will create new works throughout the weekend, and a massive art wall installation at which attendees will be encouraged to write directly on the wall and finish the sentence "Music is My ... " so festival-goers can express what music means to them.
Pick up some Hari Mari flip-flops at the inaugural Dallas Music District Festival on May 16-17.
Photo courtesy of Hari Mari
Pick up some Hari Mari flip-flops at the inaugural Dallas Music District Festival on May 16-17.
Stories featuring ordinary people faced with extreme situations have proven to be popular in film history. They range from Hitchcock movies like Rear Window to Brian De Palma’s Blow Out to the Coen Brothers’ Fargo. Recent films like Nobody and Love Hurts have put a twist on the sub-genre, featuring protagonists whose mild personas and everyman looks hide violent abilities.
The new film Novocaine is a further twist, as the ordinary man at its center has an ability that he’s never fully tapped before. Nate Caine (Jack Quaid) is a mild-mannered assistant bank manager whose life is boring by design, as he has a disorder called Congenital Insensitivity to Pain. Being unable to feel pain, traumatic events that would stop most people in their tracks don’t faze him at all, sometimes to his detriment.
Soon after making a rare connection with another bank employee, Sherry (Amber Midthunder), the bank is robbed and Sherry is kidnapped. Nate decides to pursue the kidnappers to try to rescue Sherry, setting in motion a series of events that a person without his condition would find unbearable. However, his inability to feel pain turns him into a kind of unstoppable machine, determined to do whatever it takes to achieve his goal.
That synopsis of the film, directed by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen and written by Lars Jacobsen, makes it sound like a serious action film, but it’s actually an action comedy that finds a unique angle for its hero. The filmmakers portray Nate’s condition, if not completely accurately, then with an air of plausible realism. The laughs come not at his expense, but in reaction to how he repeatedly uses his ability to his advantage.
The result is a violently graphic film that rivals ones like John Wick in what it showcases. Knowing he can’t get hurt, Nate has no issue putting himself in harm’s way, whether it’s burns, gunshot wounds, impalements, and more. The amount of damage done to him could make the film into a kind of live-action Looney Tunes, but the filmmakers manage to walk the line between hilariously ridiculous and eye-rollingly stupid.
The romance between Nate and Sherry provides a nice through-line for the story, with a few good twists and turns along the way. The lone big misstep of the film is Nate’s friendship with Roscoe (Jacob Batalon), one developed through online gaming that turns into real life by necessity. It takes a long time for them to get any scenes together, with their interactions ultimately feeling unnecessary.
Quaid seems to be hitting his stride as an actor, starring in The Boys on Prime Video and in the recent Companion. He does a great job of never overplaying this role, keeping Nate as a regular person despite what he’s able to do. Midthunder is hit-and-miss, as the story takes her character through a yo-yo arc. Betty Gabriel and Matt Walsh do serviceable work as detectives tracking Nate, delivering exactly what’s expected of them.
Novocaine is much better than it probably had a right to be, with some solid storytelling, some intense action, and a fantastic lead performance by Quaid. Humor and graphic violence don’t always go hand-in-hand, but this film finds a way to combine them in memorable ways.
