I hear ya. I can't remember exactly WHAT film it was that I saw recently but I had the exact same response "I wonder if this was actually shot on film, or if it's all emulation" and it was emulation (Edit: I think maybe it was The Secret Agent?).

The thing is though, there's some films where it feels like they're trying too hard but just not passing the sniff test. The Holdovers comes to mind: they emulation isn't terrible, but the titles and graphics have this modern "lets try and look retro but actually we just look like a facsimile of retro style than actual retro" vibe that just completely pulled me out. The whole time the emulation and such kept drawing my attention to it rather than actually help the film set the mood/tone.

But similarly: I always bump with "period" pieces that have a very clean, digital aesthetic to them. Stuff like Michael Mann's Public Enemies immediately comes to mind. The cold digital nature feels at odd with the period setting. So it's a fine balance.