The Last Smile

 (69)
6.71 h 26 min201716+
The Last Smile is 87 minutes long independent film highlighting the dangers of over the counter supplements and the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry involved in marketing these life threatening products, and one that remains totally unregulated by the FDA. The Last Smile examines a broken system filled with corruption and greed that underlies the unregulated health supplement industry.
Directors
Shankey Srinivasan
Starring
Keith StevensonDanny Arroyo
Genres
SuspenseDrama
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Producers
Jeevan Zutshi
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Prime Video (streaming online video)
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Reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

69 global ratings

  1. 44% of reviews have 5 stars
  2. 26% of reviews have 4 stars
  3. 11% of reviews have 3 stars
  4. 9% of reviews have 2 stars
  5. 9% of reviews have 1 stars
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Top reviews from the United States

Julia RoseReviewed in the United States on September 22, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Heartbreaking Reality
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The film The Last Smile is the tragic and true account of a father (Mr. Raina in the film) who lost his son (Amit in the film) prematurely, and his quest to find out what really caused his son’s death. Mr. Raina is completely stricken with grief. He tries to discuss his son’s cause of death with the doctors that had treated him and also tries to get a hold of his son’s medical records, but kept running into dead ends. Nobody in the medical field was willing to talk, which fuels both a growing suspicion and frustration. The father discovers that just before Ahmit died, he was taking pills he called “weight loss supplements” (The Last Smile, 2016) and he asks around to see if anyone knows what the pills are made of, and if there are any known side effects. One of his son’s doctors finally agrees, against protocol, to meet him in secret and discuss the pills and his son’s case. Even talking about it seems to be risky, as the doctor fears losing his job, which makes it seem like the government or medical industry is trying to keep secrets. All the while, the product that killed Amit is being promoted to the rest of the country and the world.

This story is heartbreaking beyond measure and offers several different messages. One of them being, cherish the ones we love because we never know what the next moment may bring. We should take nothing in the world for granted, time is more precious than we often realize in our busy lives. In this poor man’s case, he thought as many parents do, that he would watch his son grow up into a wonderful man. He would see him get the career he dreamed of, maybe marry and start a family. They would spend so many holidays, birthdays, and family get- togethers together. All of this in an instant was taken from the both of them. We hear all the time to always tell our loved ones how much we love them and really enjoy the time we have with them, whether we are doing something as simple as sitting next to them watching TV or going on a Hawaiian vacation. This movie brought home the message.

Another message in this film is how trusting we are of the FDA and our government with how we live day to day and what we put in our bodies. We trust them blindly, hoping whatever we consume is safe. Most of us do not stop to think that the items we put into our bodies could harm us or even kill us. This is exactly what Mr. Raina discovered when the doctor tells him the supplement pills his son took could have had numerous health effects on his body. He mentions possible kidney failure, heart failure, liver failure and a whole lot more (The Last Smile, 2016). The doctor in the film says specifically, “the label can say supplements, but it should be classified as a drug. there could be adulterants in there, you have no idea what’s in them”(The Last Smile, 2016). Even in real life, we hear often about recalls of certain foods or a string of people falling gravely ill after taking medicines like Tylenol that we are used to and expect to be safe for us. It is always shocking and jarring because we take such things for granted in our day to day lives, always assuming ourselves and our families will be safe. We see in the movie that something that seems as innocent as weight loss pills could have dire, hidden consequences that the general public does not know. The upsetting reality of this particular story as well is that many people in our society endorse such medications. Teenagers take them to lose weight, adults take them along with exercising a lot to help maintain a healthy weight, celebrities endorse these kinds of medication as well as special food to eat to help lose weight. Nutrisystem comes to mind, where the legendary Marie Osmond claims to have lost over 50 pounds by eating their food. These medications and weight loss methods are all over the media and we are exposed to these images constantly from a young age. I would absolutely recommend this movie, especially since these methods have been normalized for us and become a way of life.
Nisa PashaReviewed in the United States on November 8, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars
Drama of a fathers love for son shown in the film, "The Last Smile"
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The Last Smile is a independent film depicting the traumatic investigation of the cause of a father’s son’s death for a weight loss dietary supplement drug. The father stressed over sons death led him on a intend journey of emotional heart ache to determine if the diet pills was the reason for his son's passing from chronic health problems. After reaching a dead end questioning the hospital for information to find a link between the result of son Amit Rinta the father Kapil Rinta battle to search for cues of the weight loss product causing blood, heart and other health problem which caused Amit's death. After a doctor agreed to help him, Kapil became hopeful justice would be prevailed. Doctor Laurence informed Kapil Amit's blood work show the death was caused by hyper glycemic too much water in the body. The pills were taken for several weeks or for months and months. The doctor informed him that this weight-loss drug could have potentially caused failure of his liver and blood which. Later, Kapil made a connection with an attorney to research his case the attorney was not much of a trustworthy person but continued symbol for digging up prove to solve the case against the unregulated health supplement weight loss company. After watching the film in entirety I believe that the personal connection as well as the close connection was very strong between the father Kapil and son Amit. When someone is connected with someone in this strong way and they pass away it's a very stressful time. Devotion was inputted in linking all the concerning factors together to support his initial thoughts about the weight loss products and the regulated health system supplement industry. The Last Smile was very touching emotionally. Some may say that he acted without ration. However, if someone is under stress like Kapil, he is to me justified in all the irrational behaviors due to his emotional state. In the film intention of the attorney was what he set out to do was actually for the better of himself but intentions was not necessarily the outcome.The Last Smile film was a great example for theoretical views, personal relationships and close relationship. The conflicts dramatized the plot for the film.
Megan Hinson-BarrientozReviewed in the United States on September 20, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars
I would highly recommend this film!
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“The Last Smile” is based on a novel written by Jeevan Zutshi, a bereaved father looking for answers regarding his son’s mysterious death. The movie starts almost two years after Kapila Raina loses his son Amit, a 23-year-old, who while visiting his family for Thanksgiving was found by his father to be passed out on the bathroom floor. He was rushed to the ER but later died. Kapila couldn’t move on from his son’s death and had been fighting with the hospital to obtain his medical records so he would be able to understand what truly happened. After pleading with a clerk, she provided a number for him to contact to get assistance. By chance, a letter was forwarded to his house that was intended for Amit from Kareeba Health Sciences. After reading the letter, it aided Kapila to his first clue to what caused his son’s death. Mr. Raina tracked down Amit’s general practitioner and convinced him to view the documents from the clinic he received with the hospital records from Amit’s last visit to the ER to confirm if the supplements had anything to do with his death. Mr. Raina was turned away from everyone until he located a private investigator, Rico Fisher, who at first was only interested in obtaining a wealthy client due to his debt issues, began to learn about Amit and became passionate about brining this company to justice. Rico couldn’t bring justice for the lack of FDA regulations on “supplements” or what they did to Amit but was able to bring down the company for fraud and get them out of business. The most powerful quote that truly defined the movie was dialogue between Kapila and Rico, “I couldn’t save Amit, maybe I could save someone else.” (The Last Smile, 2016).

The issues highlighted within the film were the corrupt healthcare in society and the lack of regulation for supplements. Kareeba Health Services wasn’t worried about its customers, vendors, or employees but instead focused on greed and money. They didn’t care that its product could cause their customers to have hypernatremia, dangerously low levels of sodium within the body, which could cause heart failure, liver failure, or kidney failure. By not regulating and having standards only promotes more companies like Kareeba Health Services to abuse and harm innocent and naive customers without having to face their accusers. The Last Smile was incredibly touching and showed passion that I believe any parent would show if their child was to die a mysterious death. Kapila might not have been able to get the peace he intended but he seemed to be able to move on once he was able to obtain some answers. No parent should ever have to outlive their child, but by brining awareness to the issue at hand did bring justice for Amit from his father.
Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United States on September 20, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Last Smile
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The film opens with an angry father at the hospital trying to retrieve his son Amit’s, medical records. The father wants to know why his son died a tragic death. Why would a fit and healthy young man be dead at the young age of 27?

The father found the supplements his son was taking, and he wanted to know if this was the cause of his death. The father had a feeling something was wrong with the supplements. He went to go seek advice from a doctor. After the doctor agreed to help him and told the father that the supplements could have caused kidney or liver failure. Also, the doctor stated supplements should be classified as a drug. Supplements do not have to be regulated by FDA.

The message of this film is to share the tragic loss of young Amit and how supplements that are unregulated may cause severe health problems. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, “Dietary Supplements can be beneficial to your health — but taking supplements can also involve health risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not have the authority to review dietary supplement products for safety and effectiveness before they are marketed” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services). When it comes to taking diet pills or supplements you need to check them out with your health care provider or read the label to determine health risks. The father just wanted to know what really happened to his son and wanted to ensure this did not happen to anyone else.

Work Cited

Srinivasan S. (Director), (2016). The Last Smile.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2017), U.S. Food & Drug Adminstration.
Bay Area GirlReviewed in the United States on October 13, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars
Emotionally Captivating and Practically engaging
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Storyline- 9/10 This grips from from the first scene. Strong story line- I like the definitive turn at 20 minutes- love the way the tension was built up.

Cinematography- 9/10 Nice attention to detail here. Everything looks authentic and nicely in place- the surroundings, the characters, and the backgrounds- all work nicely with each other

Music- 7/10 Being a musician myself, it is natural that I listen for music everywhere :) In the movie about Indians in America, it would have been great to use some fusion pieces, some very melancholy pieces to really assist you in showing emotions. Not that the actors needed a lot of help with their terrific acting but music with some Indian touch would have given such a different feel to this whole story and enhanced it even more.

Pace- 7/10 I felt like the pace could've been picked up somewhat after the first 30 minutes. Definitely understand that you wanted to underline the anguish of the central character (Dad) by repeatedly showing some examples of how lost he was in the real world after his son passed but you did that really well in the first few examples and really the audience knows already how much the central character misses his son.

Poems and Hindi lyrical transitions- 8/10 Very Nice- Ek Ajnabi was so poignant, so touching- as a mother my eyes welled up during that piece. I had read somewhere that your child is a little piece of your heart walking around. And its true and you realize that after becoming a parent. A few more of the "Ek Ajnabi' type lyrics would be welcome (in musical form even more!)
One person found this helpful
JoyReviewed in the United States on September 18, 2018
4.0 out of 5 stars
Hurry! Watch this before buying those Instagram supplements
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The Last Smile may be classified as a documentary. It is based on true events. The film is based on a desperate father looking for answers regarding his seemingly healthy, young, son’s sudden death. The film feels like it was practically ripped from the headlines, based on how relevant it is to today. The film was extremely high-quality. And it all felt so real. I would highly recommend this film to anyone who is considering buying supplements through the Internet.
For anyone on social media, you’ve probably experience “friends “trying to sell you some sort of diet pill, smoothie, or supplement. From special coffee creamers to prepared meals, the Internet has it all. The true darker side of these things is there is barely any scientific testing done for these products. Rather funds are spent on flashy advertisements. Similar the company showed in the film, most of these companies are classic pyramid schemes. The sellers are trying to make a quick buck, and are willing to sell anyone. As the film progresses, you see the heartache that these dangerous weight loss supplements have caused the family. One red flag is that most supplements will promise flashy results such as losing 10 pounds in a week. It is more important to look at what science says, which is 1 to 2 pounds a week is considered a normal weight loss. Like we’ve heard so many times before, there truly is no quick fix to weight loss.
One person found this helpful
K. Hadi RahmanReviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great truthful movie!
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I would highly recommend this movie. The movie is inspired by a true story from a novel by Jeevan Zutshi called, “The Last Smile” based in San Francisco. Mr. Raina wanted to find answers for his 27 year old son, Amit’s death. Mr. Raina goes through several obstacles trying to get answers. He hired people to investigate the company. He did not want to give up because he knew Amit had been a healthy young man. Mr. Raina’s wife was very lonely because he was always in his study. Mr. Raina found out Amit had received a letter from Kareeba Health Sciences began taking dietary health supplements for weight loss. Mr. Raina went to Dr. Lawrence and looked at Amit’s health records where he found Amit had hypernatremia, a condition where the patient doesn’t have enough water in the body. Amit sweated a lot during his extensive work outs and there were low levels of sodium in his body. The supplement could even cause kidney or liver failure. There was no FDA regulations for the Kareeba products. Mr. Raina believes that the supplements caused Amit’s death. Enrico was hired by Mr. Raina to investigate the product. Enrico found out that Kareeba Light was removed in December, a month after Amit’s passed away in November. The task was to find another person whose death resulted from taking this product as more proof. In the end of the movie, Enrico realized that Kareeba was a pyramid scheme. Kareeba did not care about the health of their clients. He also questioned the CFO lady of Kareeba and threatened her to give up information about it and the police took her in for further questioning. The news broadcast Kareeba was under criminal investigation and Enrico got a million dollars for his excellent work.

Zutshi made this film with , to make the public aware of taking precautions when taking health supplements. They should be FDA approved and the consumer must do research of the product. Sadly, we live in a society where scheming companies only think of profits.
L.BenzReviewed in the United States on May 5, 2021
4.0 out of 5 stars
Coup de grâce
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The movie was too dark, the connections barely held up for a trial or anything. I guess good enough for the DEA tho. Pyramid schemes always fall apart when you run out of people to con into paying upwards.
I think it was a mildly good attempt at bringing down a company doing illegal stuff but of course it was a difficult task with how dark the film was.
Killing people that stand in their way was totally out of bounds esp. before a merger, killing someone usually leads back to the "reason" and if the reason can be found if you follow the money. Doomed after the first kill.
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