If you've got Apple TV+ and you're ready to ugly-cry over a foreign film tonight, this list skips the guesswork. Every movie here is confirmed on Apple TV+ with English subtitles, and every one will cost you at least one box of tissues.
Yes, You Can Handle Subtitles (Especially for These)
The hesitation is real. Reading while watching feels like homework. But these films pull you in so fast that the subtitles disappear within ten minutes. Trust the process.
The filmmakers on this list work in emotion first, language second. That's why they hit American audiences just as hard as any Hollywood drama.
The Heavy Hitters: Films That Will Actually Break You
A brother and sister try to survive in the final months of World War II Japan. This is the one people warn you about before you watch it, and the warning is never strong enough.
Based on a real case, this film follows a family rebuilding after their young daughter survives a violent attack. It is quietly devastating in a way that sneaks up on you completely.
A woman with terminal illness promises her husband and son she'll return, and then she does. The grief and the tenderness share equal weight, and the ending earns every emotion it asks for.
The Ones That Hide the Gut Punch Until It's Too Late
These films don't announce their sadness. They ease you in with warmth or intrigue, then they close the door on you.
A filmmaker reflects on his childhood bond with a small-town movie projectionist. The nostalgia is gorgeous throughout, and then the final scene arrives and wrecks everything in the best way.
A father uses humor and imagination to shield his young son from the reality of a Nazi concentration camp. Roberto Benigni performs the balancing act of comedy and horror so precisely it almost doesn't seem possible.
A former bully tries to make amends with the deaf classmate he tormented as a kid. The film handles guilt and forgiveness with more honesty than most live-action dramas ever manage.
Grief You Can Feel, Not Just Watch
The best tearjerkers don't just make you sad for the characters. They make you feel something about your own life. These two are especially good at that.
An elderly couple visits their adult children in Tokyo and slowly realizes they are a burden, not a priority. Yasujirō Ozu films this with almost no dramatic gestures, which makes the loneliness land even harder.
A terminally ill bureaucrat spends his final months trying to do one meaningful thing. Akira Kurosawa tells this story with such patience and humanity that it's impossible to walk away unchanged.
Foreign Animation That Hits Harder Than It Has Any Right To
A lot of people underestimate animated films as tearjerkers. That is a mistake. These two are among the most emotionally precise films in the entire catalog.
Two teenagers are mysteriously connected across time and distance, and they race to find each other before the connection breaks. The longing in this film is almost physical.
A young woman raises her two half-wolf, half-human children alone after the death of their father. It is a film about parenthood and letting go, and it is completely sincere about both.
One More Worth Your Night
A teenager in 1960s Taiwan slowly drifts toward violence as the world around him offers no good exits. Edward Yang builds the tragedy so gradually that you feel the loss of innocence in real time.
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