Independence Day

VHS, R, 110 minutes, WARNER

Mary Ann Taylor of Mercury, New Mexico, is a small-town photographer with big-city dreams. She's drawn to Jack Parker, a car-racing enthusiast who's seen the world and knows it can get cold out there; he craves the hometown comforts Mary Ann is striving to break from. Though it's tearing her apart, Mary Ann must make a choice. Kathleen Quinlan ("Clara's Heart," "I Never Promised You A Rose Garden") and David Keith ("An Officer And A Gentleman," "The Two Jakes") are Mary Ann and Jack in "Independence Day," a moving, unsentimental look at what "coming of age" can mean for a young woman with talent, intelligence and ambition - and how leaving home often means leaving behind a big piece of your heart. Powerful performances by Frances Sternhagen (as Mary Ann's ailing mother) and Dianne Wiest (as Jack's ill-married sister) add grit and poignance to this first film from F/X and "Touch And Go" director Robert Mandel. In its honesty and universality, "Independence Day" is an occasion to celebrate.