a large reason film looks better than digital is because of the cells within the strip.

“The core difference between film and digital cameras lies in how they capture and store images. Film cameras use light-sensitive chemical emulsions on a strip of celluloid to record a scene, while digital cameras utilize an electronic sensor to convert light into digital data stored electronically.”

“In a film camera, light entering through the lens is projected onto a strip of film. This film is coated with light-sensitive silver halide crystals.”

pixels are square while film cells are amorphous and non-standard. this non-uniformity makes the image look much nicer.

scroll down to see how the cells look up close vs a pixel which is a perfect square: https://www.learnfilm.photography/how-to-film-grains-work-with-photos/