When Andy asked me to review this film, I said yes, but the title seemed familiar. Checking my posts, I found the original review I wrote of A Breed Apart for the Canadian Film Fest in March 2026. Should I watch it a second time? A film of this brilliance is best watched twice. So, allow me to give the film the review it deserves.
A Breed Apart
A Breed Apart is a Canadian historical drama that is written, produced, and directed by Adam Belanger and David Lafontaine. The time period is set in the 1850s Joshua Close plays the part of Sydney Tompkins, an English cattle breeder, who has moved his wife and young son, Emmett (Isaac Highams), to Canada to start a cattle ranch with a special breed of cattle that is quite unknown in Northern Ontario, where Tompkins has settled in.
Hereford cattle are stockier and heavier than other cattle. That means more meat and more money. Sydney’s neighbors are curious about the four cows and one bull that came all the way from Herefordshire England. The film begins with a burial: Ophelia Tompkins. Father and son are devastated, but there is hard work to be done, and calves on the way. Emmett is dealing not only with the loss of his mother, but the isolation from society. School and church are put on hold, as they prepare for the winter. Good news comes Sydney’s way when two strangers (James Gilbert and Michael Hough arrive at the ranch with a good business deal…but everything depends on those four cows successfully calving.
The entire film revolves around young Emmett’s perspective. He misses his mother and wonders where her soul has gone, but Sydney is so preoccupied with the drudgery of farm work that he treats the child almost callously. Emmett takes solace at a neighbouring farm where Clara (Krista Bridges) and Thomas (Stuart Hughes) take a liking to Emmett and include him in their homeschooling of little Beth (Charlie Storey). Beth has two brothers, Oscar (Simon Webster) and William (Tyler Robinson).
When Sydney’s cattle begin to get sick, a blue hankie found in the barn may hold the clue.
Conclusion
The cinematography amazingly pulls you into the feel of the wilderness of Northern Ontario. I felt a true connection to what was happening in the film and with the actors. The emotions portrayed by Joshua Close and Isaac Highams were believable and kept me focused on their survival even on my second watching. A Breed Apart is Belanger’s and Lafontaine’s joint feature-length filmmaking debut, and as I said in my first review, A Breed Apart should win an Academy Award. I could watch this film a third time.
A Breed Apart begins a one-week engagement this Friday, October 9, at Toronto’s Carlton Cinema.
