Release Date – TBC, Cert – TBC, Run-time – 1 hour 45 minutes, Director – Calif Chong
Go-wing (Isabella Wei) spends her days studying and working at her dad’s (Ka-Wah Lam) takeaway with little time for herself, until she finds her desired path, secretly training to become a touring circus’ high-wire act.
2025 marked my seventh year of getting away with attending the London Film Festival and in that time out of all the films I’ve seen as part of the various editions few have got me excited for the future work of an actor and director as Calif Chong’s feature debut High Wire. A film which rises above its familiarity and flaws by the simple emotional push that it creates for us to invest in the central character.
Go-wing (a wonderful performance by Isabella Wei – who based on this performance alone I can’t wait to see more from) spends her days studying for a law degree, for which she’s recently missed an exam, and her evenings working in her immigrant father’s (Ka-Wah Lam) Chinese takeaway. Now nineteen she’s feeling more suffocated than ever, with no time to herself. Her social life is largely made up of interactions with former school friends when they come in to pick up an order. However, things change when a chance order leads Go-wing to a travelling circus with upcoming auditions. From there she finds herself training to be a high-wire act, in secret from everyone around her, especially her father who expects big things from his daughter – “I didn’t pay to come all the way to the UK, pay all that tuition, just for you to slave over a stove like I do.”
Yes, the beats of the narrative might be familiar, and it might not always be the most subtle when it comes to an occasionally intrusive score, but there’s a compelling rawness to the way in which it presents itself. Go-wing is an endearing character who holds our engagement as the film follows her trying to find a balance (no pun intended) in her life rather than simply develop her high-wire skills. There are a handful of likable chuckles to be found in this strand, and overtime some real punches of emotion. Multiple scenes had me unexpectedly tearing up, one argument scene strikes a real chord as it draws out its rising emotion. High Wire marked, for me, one of the most emotionally impactful films of 2025’s London Film Festival, and much of it is naturally ingrained in character and story.
So much of Go-wing’s character is caught up in personal emotion, feeling almost as a continuous reassurance from co-writers Chong and Jackie Lam that she’ll be alright in the end – but with the admission that, yes, she does have to go through the weight of her life as it is at the moment to get there. Taking on the different elements of it without the needed time, she tells her dad that she’s actually at a work placement helping her studies when she’s training with the circus, while trying not to disappoint multiple people.
From ignorant, mocking ‘friends’ and racist attacks on her home to the feeling that she needs to conceal her newfound tightrope-walking joy, not to mention the utter punch of looking at the loss of the central character’s former ice-skater mother with the simple quote “she moved to the moon when I was your age” there’s an underlying emotion to Go-wing and the film as a whole. The family tensions present, those who want to see her succeed and where she feels caught all play into the narrative making for a naturally rounded character and narrative.
For its emotional impact, and even the chuckles that it manages to raise here and there with some elements in the same vein as those which caused me to tear up, I found myself forgiving the familiarity and occasionally overdone beats of High Wire. There feels a personal film here from Calif Chong, one that brings the audience in to experience it alongside the well-channelled performance from Isabella Wei. There’s a likable, acknowledging and empathetic story here of someone finding their joy and expression. A solid feature debut that shows promise for star and director, I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for what they both do next!
While its narrative might occasionally feel familiar and certain elements slightly forced, High Wire is easily forgivable because of the emotional connection it creates with Isabella Wei’s wonderfully performed central character. Creating both chuckles and emotional punches, this is an effective and promising feature debut.
Just A Little Bit Random 