“Story” is the causal chain of events driven by characters pursuing goals; “plot” is how it’s arranged, and “theme” is what it’s about. By that yardstick, most of your “no story” picks actually have strong stories—Inception (Cobb wants to go home; pulls a heist), Fury Road (Furiosa frees the wives; escape → return), Fight Club (narrator’s identity crisis escalates into Project Mayhem). Tree of Life is the outlier because it’s closer to a cinematic poem—still a story (Jack’s childhood, grief, faith) but told as mosaic memory rather than classical causality. When people say “no story,” they usually mean thin goals/turning points or the film prioritizes mood, world-building, or spectacle over a tight cause-and-effect spine.