The presenter makes a good case that some frameworks are overly complicated. The vast number of ORM libraries seems to be an indicator that a good solution is elusive.
Github, bitbucket, source forge have hundreds of ORM projects. Wikipedia has a good list too.
I invented sormula as a lightweight alternative to complicated frameworks like JPA. See sormula site for a list of features and examples.
It also contains a package that implements the active record pattern for those that like that approach but is not required.
