Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters (1997)

In the Bangkok of the 1950s, a fatherless boy nicknamed Dang Bireley, after his favourite orange soda, grows up with a single mother and a hunger for respect. Inspired by Hollywood idols like James Dean and Elvis Presley, he and his friends form a gang that becomes the most feared among the city's young toughs, but the code of loyalty that binds them also pulls them toward ruin. Based on a real gangster's story, Dang Bireley's and Young Gangsters was the debut feature of Nonzee Nimibutr, written by Wisit Sasanatieng, who later directed Tears of the Black Tiger. It became the highest-grossing Thai film up to that time and is widely credited with launching the Thai New Wave of the late 1990s.