'Pen-ek' means 'is the best'.
'Pen' is the verb 'to be' but since Thai has no conjugations, it can
mean anything from the present singular 'is' to 'are' to 'being'. 'Ek'
is 'first' or 'the best'.
In each of the first five films he directed, he included a character
named Noi. The word "noi" means 'little' or 'small'.