The official website for Ryûichi Hiroki's M is now online, although at present it's just a home page. (Thanks to ScreenAnarchy's own logboy for bringing this to my attention.) The movie had its world première at the 19th Tokyo International Film Festival (Dai-19-kai Tôkyô Kokusai Eigasai) -- "TIFF" for short -- on October 22nd of last year, and its international (i.e., outside-of-Japan) première at the 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on January 27th. Happinet K.K. (K.K. Hapinetto) plans to release it at the Euro Space (Yûro Supêsu) in Tokyo in September. Gold View Y.K. (Y.K. Gôrudo Byû) is the international sales agent for it.
As was previously reported here on ScreenAnarchy, the screenplay for M was written by Hisashi Saitô, based on the novella anthology M (not just the eponymous novella) by Seishû Hase. The movie stars (listed order corresponds to order on official website) Miwon, Kengo Kôra, Nao Ômori, Tomorowo Taguchi, Hiroyuki Hirayama, Kiyohiko Shibukawa (a.k.a. Kee), Masahiro Toda, Nasubi, Erika Okuda, (Seishû) Hase, Hôka Kinoshita, Miho Ninagawa, and Hiroshi Ôguchi.
Here's a synopsis for M from the TIFF website: "Satoko is a housewife who lives a comfortable life with her businessman husband Hideyuki and her six-year-old son Masato. One day on her way to pick up Masato, she meets Minoru -- a paper delivery boy who happens to be playing catch with Masato. At first glance Minoru seems to be a serious, hard-working young man. But she learns that when he was twelve he stabbed and killed his father, who was beating up his mother. He had done this to protect his mother, but instead she abandoned her son and disappeared. Minoru sees a little of his mother in Satoko, and starts to follow her around. As he does, he discovers that Satoko is being threatened by the yakuza mafia. Soon Satoko's husband Hideyuki senses something wrong as his wife begins to change, and comes up with some wild ideas. As passion and love envelop them, Minoru tries to save Satoko. Satoko wishes to escape, but fear keeps her from doing so. What each person feels... is it reality or just an illusion?"
Here's a description of M from the IFFR website: "A master of Japanese pink pictures (often described as soft porn, but they're not that soft) makes a psychological drama about a housewife with a double life. Hiroki draws on his own experiences in porn to tell a serious and exciting psychological story about a woman with a horrific secret and an intriguing and violent sexual fantasy.
The protagonists in this film become entangled in their occasionally violent sexual fantasies, yet you cannot really include M among what are known as pink pictures with which Hiroki has become famous (or notorious). Pink master Hiroki is quite capable of making an 'ordinary' feature film, as was seen last year in Rotterdam with It's Only Talk. So the pink colour of this psychological drama must be quite deliberate. Hiroki drew on his own experiences in porn to tell a serious and exciting psychological story about a woman with a horrific secret. The film has several protagonists each with their own moments and scenes, but it focuses on the housewife Satoko. She looks satisfied with her calm and comfortable life. Then one day she gets to know the young man Minoru through her little son. Minoru becomes obsessed by Satoko and discovers her secret double life: she is being abused and forced to be a sadomasochistic prostitute by a member of the Yakuza. Minoru decides to save her as he once tried to save his own mother, an action which had dramatic consequences. Satoko seems to put up with her fate, which makes her role even more intriguing. Confronted by the clumsy helplessness of her husband and the almost animal aggression of the Yakuza pimp, her restraint provides a beautiful contrast. It is the figure of Satoko who holds this consciously fragmentary film together with her enigmatic nature."
M official website
Variety: M review
Gold View: Ryûichi Hiroki-directed movies