With awards season underway, are you finding yourself wishing for aficionado-worthy film insights? There’s still time to brush up and impress with your knowledge – and, more importantly, to improve your appreciation and enjoyment of movie watching, too. Take note from a critic’s tips, below.

I know, a groundbreaking suggestion, but you’d be surprised at how many people I encounter who offer big opinions about film, and the state of cinema, but don’t actively participate in the simple practice of watching movies – which has never been easier to do. Thanks to the influx of streaming services (I highly recommend Mubi and BFI Player along with the mainstream options), and, of course, old-school options, such as going to the cinema or buying physical media, we are pretty spoilt for choice.

Coming from someone who watches films for a living, it is quite exhausting to keep up with how many are released each week (luckily, I love it). The choice is sometimes overwhelming, so make a must-see list (add some old ones you’ve never seen for good measure) and start to tick them off each time you’re scrolling for something to watch.

OK, so you’ve bought your ticket, or you’ve settled down in front of the TV and you’re ready to watch a film. That’s actually the easy part sorted. What’s harder, in this overstimulated age of social media and notifications, is concentrating on the screen in front of you, not the one in your hand.

If you’re at the cinema, it is a big no-no – a “kick them out” offence – if you get your phone out, check Instagram and/or take a picture of the screen. There’s cinema etiquette, you know? But at home, you’re free to do as you wish, however you’ll just be ruining your enjoyment and appreciation of the film (as well as likely missing some key moments) if you’re splitting your attention between the two screens.

The beauty of cinema is the diversity of storytelling and the various styles a filmmaker might use to tell theirs. From horror (The Substance) to sci-fi (Dune: Part Two), comedy (A Real Pain) to kitchen sink (Hard Truths), historical biopic (A Complete Unknown) to musical (Emila Pérez/Wicked), the pictures nominated across this year’s awards season are quite the spread.

So, broaden your perspectives beyond comic-book adaptations, rom-coms or whatever genre you typically go for – you might surprise yourself with how entertaining and illuminating watching outside the box can be.

As Parasite director Bong Joon-Ho said while collecting his award for Best Film in a Foreign Language at the 2020 Golden Globes, “Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”

You might already be watching films and TV shows at home with subtitles on (and likely videos on social media as well), so why not try out some international films that have them, too? And they don’t have to be Oscar-nominated to be worthy of your time or reading comprehension. Subtitles also ensure your eyes stay fixed on the screen, which means your attention is more likely to stay as well.

Don’t settle for only checking a film’s Rotten Tomatoes score to see if it’s worth watching, look further. Its rotten or fresh rating is determined by the input of written, video and audio reviews penned by critics from around the world (including myself). A number cannot offer the nuances of what works and doesn’t work about a film, nor can it give you a greater understanding of what might be in store.

So, read, watch or listen to the reviews of writers with whom you share similar film opinions – and some you don’t. A breadth of thought is great for opening your mind and heart to different perspectives, both on the screen and on the page. And you might discover a few titbits you want to quote later, to up your film-buff persona.

One of my favourite quotes from a film is delivered by Richard Ayoade’s character Patrick in The Souvenir Part II. He’s a film student working on his graduate project and gets irate when his peers give him mundane responses, like “great” to a scene from his black-and-white musical. “What does it make you feel?” he cries.

That is what I think about when I talk about films: what they make me feel and how they accomplish that feeling. Cinema is an empathy machine; it makes you feel myriad emotions. So, if you want to be a film buff, you must be able to connect with that part of yourself and articulate your view beyond, “Yeah it was alright.” Remember that you don’t need to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the genre or the auteur to be able to express how you felt when you were watching their work.

Once you’ve watched many of the awards-season contenders, you can sit back and take in the rise and fall of their awards campaigns to get a sense of the bigger picture. This is where a studio puts a big budget behind promoting their films, actors and creatives to secure nominations and wins. I highly recommend watching Christopher Guest’s mockumentary For Your Consideration if you want a funny explainer on how it works.

Each year, there is some behind-the-scenes drama that the entertainment trade magazines love to talk about, and this year has proved monumentally chaotic already. As Pam in Gavin & Stacey tells her husband, “It’s the drama, Mick, I love it!” Tune in to see if you do, too.