Editor’s picks: Chinese film @ REDCAT and more

MOVIES

Between Disorder and Unexpected Pleasures: Tales From the New Chinese Cinema Digital innovations have enabled contemporary Chinese independent filmmakers to flourish in recent years, resulting in a colorful tableau of daring and at times darkly humorous films that explore new ways of viewing truth and fiction. The series kicks off with novelist-filmmaker Zhu Wen’s “Thomas Mao,” a funny and surreal tale of a painter trekking through the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd St., Downtown. 8:30 p.m. Series runs thru Sat. See website for complete schedule. $9. (213) 237-2800. https://www.redcat.org

POP MUSIC

Middle Brother Any time a collection of well-respected frontmen join forces, the term supergroup will inevitably get bandied about. But you won’t hear the members of Middle Brother ascribing that lofty title to themselves anytime soon. Yes, members John McCauley III (Deer Tick), Matt Vasquez (Delta Spirit) and Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) have a hefty helping of the indie folk buzz in their respective corners. But it’s the sprawling three-part harmonies blanketing the band’s woodsy, acoustic balladry that will likely turn heads. Detroit Bar, 843 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa. 9 p.m. $20. https://www.detroitbar.com

A Day to Remember Among the scads of emo (though they’d surely hate the term) bands with pompous band names, A Day to Remember stands out with the kind of huge pop hooks and live-set vigor that brought them off the daytime Warped Tour racket to bigger headlining stages like the Palladium. Hollywood Palladium, 6215 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. 6 p.m. $24.50. livenation.com

BOOKS

Marjorie Garber What’s the point of literature? Who gets to decide what that is? What makes a text worthy of study and how do we get those books back into our lives? These are some of the thorny questions that Garber, a literature professor at Harvard, tries to grapple with in her new polemic “On the Use and Abuse of Literature.” She’ll discuss it with The Times’ book critic David L. Ulin. Aloud at Central Library, 630 W. 5th St., L.A. 7 p.m. Free. https://www.lapl.org